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illjoUe  Solatia  edition 

RHODE  ISLAND 

BY 


IRVING  BERDINE  RICHMAN 


RHODE  ISLAND 


A STUDY  IN  SEPARATISM 


BY 

IRVING  BERDINE  RICHMAN 

Author  of  “ Rhode  Island:  Its  Making 
and  Its  Meaning 


BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 
HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  AND  COMPANY 
($be  Rtoersibe  prerfrf,  Cambribge 
1905 


r 

7 9 

. i?53Z 


COPYRIGHT  1905  BY  IRVING  B.  RICHMAN 
ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED 


HboUe  gglanti  0Uttton 

LIMITED  TO  ONE  HUNDRED  COPIES 
AND  PRINTED  FOR 
PRESTON  AND  ROUNDS  COMPANY 
PROVIDENCE,  R.  I. 


MAR  9 1988 


BUTM  COLLEGE  LiB3MUf 

CHESBttH  MILL,  MA  02(67 


PREFACE 


Upon  the  formative  period  of  Rhode  Island  his- 
tory, the  author  of  the  present  study  has  dwelt 
at  length  in  “ Rhode  Island : Its  Making  and  its 
Meaning,”  published  in  1902.  The  period  in  ques- 
tion was  characterized  by  a separatism  that  was 
intense,  but  subsequent  periods  have  by  no  means 
been  wanting  in  this  feature,  and  it  is  largely  the 
object  of  the  present  book  to  point  out  the  influ- 
ence of  separatism  in  determining  the  course  of 
events  in  Rhode  Island  during  the  eighteenth  and 
nineteenth  centuries. 

Within  the  current  year  there  has  been  pub- 
lished by  Dr.  Edward  Channing,  of  Harvard,  vol- 
ume one  of  a history  of  the  United  States.  This 
volume,  at  page  412,  contains  the  statement,  that 
all  existing  histories  of  Rhode  Island  are  “full 
of  prejudice  against  Massachusetts.”  The  state- 
ment would  seem  to  commit  Dr.  Channing  to  the 
dictum  that  no  historical  writer  may  speak  with 
severity  — discriminating  severity  even  — concern- 


VI 


PREFACE 


ing  the  general  attitude  of  early  Massachusetts 
toward  early  Rhode  Island,  without  incurring  the 
charge  of  prejudice.  Outside  of  the  Bay  State 
severity  against  early  Massachusetts  intolerance 
(vide  Osgood  and  Andrews)  is  evidently  not  con- 
sidered by  American  historians  an  indication,  per 
se , of  prejudice,  nor  is  it  evidently  so  considered 
by  such  European  scholars,  English,  Swiss,  and 
German,  as  Doyle,  Bryce,  Borgeaud,  and  Jellinek. 
The  possibility  remains  that  in  his  dictum,  that 
all  histories  of  Rhode  Island  (because  of  severity 
toward  early  Massachusetts)  are  filled  with  preju- 
dice, Dr.  Channing  is  right  and  others,  American 
and  European,  are  wrong;  but,  as  affecting  the 
weight  of  the  dictum,  the  circumstance  can  hardly 
be  overlooked  that  Dr.  Channing,  by  birth,  educa- 
tion, and  persistent  environment,  is  a Massachu- 
setts man. 

Animated  with  the  hope  that  as  one  possessed 
of  no  relationship,  ancestral  or  contemporary,  to 
New  England,  his  work  may  be  found  reasonably 
impartial,  the  author  desires  to  make  acknowledg- 
ment for  valuable  aid  to  his  friends,  Mr.  Clarence 
S.  Brigham,  librarian  of  the  Rhode  Island  His- 
torical Society;  Mr.  George  Parker  Winship, 
librarian  of  the  John  Carter  Brown  Library ; Mr. 


PREFACE 


vii 


William  E.  Foster,  librarian  of  the  Providence 
Public  Library;  Professor  William  MacDonald, 
of  Brown  University;  Mr.  William  P.  Sheffield, 
Jr.,  of  Newport;  Dr.  Frank  Gr.  Bates,  of  Alfred 
University,  New  York;  and  Mr.  Reuben  Gr. 
Thwaites,  of  the  Historical  Society  of  Wisconsin. 

I.  B.  R. 

Muscatine,  Iowa,  September  23, 1905. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

Part  I.  AGRICULTURE  AND  SEPARATISM 

I.  Narragansett  Bay 3 

II.  The  Age  of  Roger  Williams.  ...  13 

Part  II.  COMMERCE  AND  COOPERATION 

III.  Paper  Money 65 

TV.  Rhode  Island  and  the  Sea  ....  84 

V.  The  Golden  Age  of  Newport  (Commerce)  . 107 

VI.  The  Golden  Age  of  Newport — continued 

(Letters,  Arts,  Science) 129 

VII.  Old  Narragansett 146 

VIII.  Growth  of  Providence  : Stephen  Hopkins  and 

Moses  Brown 159 

IX.  Constitutional  Development  ....  180 

Part  HI.  UNIFICATION  AND  MANUFACTURES 

t 

X.  Portents  of  Revolution 197 

XI.  Rhode  Island  the  Theatre  of  War  . . 216 

XII.  The  Federal  Constitution 241 

XIII.  Decline  of  Commerce  and  Establishment  of 

Manufactures 258 

XIV.  The  Dorr  Rebellion 285 

XV.  The  Civil  War  and  After  ....  308 


X 


CONTENTS 


APPENDIX. 

A.  Towns  and  Counties  of  Rhode  Island,  with 

Dates  of  Settlement  ok  of  Incorporation  345 

B.  List  of  Chief  Magistrates  of  Rhode  Island, 

1636-1905  345 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 351 

INDEX 387 


» 


The  smallest  [of  the  New  England  colonies],  Rhode 
Island,  had  features  all  its  own;  . . . the  rest  were 
substantially  one  in  nature  and  origin. 

Francis  Parkman,  Montcalm  and  Wolfe, 
vol.  i,  p.  25. 


PART  I 


AGRICULTURE  AND  SEPARATISM 
1636-1689 


RHODE  ISLAND 


CHAPTER  I 

NARRAGANSETT  BAY 
Geography  — Discovery  — Present-day  Environment 

Before  the  age  of  Roger  Williams  Rhode  Island 
was  separatist.  It  was  so  in  its  geography.  It 
consisted  of  a strip  or  section  of  territory  — a con- 
tinental or  mainland  section  embracing  Narragan- 
sett  Bay  — and  of  a series  of  formations  within 
the  bay  constituting  a section  of  islands. 

Within  present  boundaries  the  greatest  length 
of  the  Narragansett  Bay  commonwealth  is  forty- 
eight  miles,  and  its  greatest  width  thirty-seven. 
Its  area,  including  the  bay,  is  nearly  thirteen  hun- 
dred square  miles.  The  bay  itself  comprises  about 
two  hundred  square  miles,  and  is  broken  into  lesser 
bays,  and  into  straits  and  channels,  by  its  groups 
of  islands.  Of  these  islands  Prudence,  Conanicut, 
and  the  island  of  Aquidneck,  or  Rhode  Island,  are 
the  largest.  The  entire  coast  line  (bay  and  sea) 
extends  four  hundred  miles,  and  adjacent  to  it  in 
South  Kingstown,  Charlestown,  and  Westerly  the 
lands  are  low  and  marshy.  To  the  northward  and 


4 


RHODE  ISLAND 


westward  there  is  a gradual  increase  in  elevation, 
the  highest  point  — 805  feet  — being  attained  at 
Durfee’s  Hill  in  Glocester. 

Narragansett  Bay  forms  the  outlet  for  three 
considerable  Rhode  Island  streams,  — the  Black- 
stone  (Seekonk),  the  Woonasquatucket,  and  the 
Pawtuxet,  — and  the  Atlantic  Ocean  for  a fourth 
stream,  the  Pawcatuck.  These  streams  are  in- 
terrupted by  falls  and  rapids,  and  in  the  days  of 
the  first  settlers  were  bordered  by  strips  of  luxu- 
riant grass  land.  Aside  from  the  river  meadows 
and  coast  marshes,  the  surface  of  aboriginal  Rhode 
Island  was  stony  or  sandy  and  covered  by  a thick 
growth  of  forest. 

Passage  from  the  mainland  to  the  islands,  and 
from  the  islands  to  the  mainland,  was  in  the  early 
days  often  difficult  and  sometimes  dangerous,  a 
fact  to  which  official  records  and  private  diaries 
bear  concurrent  testimony.  That  Providence  and 
Newport,  therefore,  should  develop  on  divergent 
lines  is  not  surprising ; although  in  calm  weather 
the  physical  bond  between  them  must  have  been 
of  a closer  nature  than  would  have  been  supplied 
by  as  many  miles  of  Indian  forest  trail. 

In  a letter  to  Francis  I of  France,  dated  July 
8,  1524,  Jean  Verrazano  describes  the  shores 
and  islands  of  Narragansett  Bay,  a spot  upon 
which  he  had  come,  in  the  spring  of  the  year 
named,  in  searching  for  a channel  through  the 
American  continent  to  the  regions  of  Cathay. 


NARRAGANSETT  BAY 


5 


“ Weighing  anchor,”  he  says,  “ we  sailed  eighty 
leagues  toward  the  East,  as  the  coast  stretched  in 
that  direction,  and  always  in  sight  of  it ; at  length 
we  discovered  an  island  of  a triangular  form, 
about  ten  leagues  from  the  mainland,  in  size  about 
equal  to  the  island  of  Rhodes,  having  many  hills 
covered  with  trees,  and  well  peopled,  judging  from 
the  great  number  of  fires  which  we  saw  all  around 
its  shores ; we  gave  it  the  name  of  Your  Majesty’s 
illustrious  mother  [Luisa]. 

“We  did  not  land  there  as  the  weather  was 
unfavorable,  but  proceeded  to  another  place,  fifteen 
leagues  distant  from  the  island,  where  we  found  a 
very  excellent  harbor.  . . . 

“ This  region  is  situated  in  the  parallel  of  Rome, 
being  41  degrees  40  minutes  of  north  latitude,  but 
much  colder  from  accidental  circumstances  and 
not  by  nature,  as  I shall  hereafter  explain  to  Your 
Majesty,  and  confine  myself  at  present  to  the 
description  of  its  local  situation.  It  looks  toward 
the  south,  on  which  side  the  harbor  is  half  a 
league  broad;  “afterwards  upon  entering  it,  the 
extent  between  the  coast  and  north  is  twelve 
leagues,  and  then  enlarging  itself  it  becomes  a 
very  large  bay,  twenty  leagues  in  circumference, 
in  which  are  five  small  islands,  of  great  fertility 
and  beauty,  covered  with  large  and  lofty  trees. 
Among  these  islands  any  fleet,  however  large, 
might  ride  safely,  without  fear  of  tempest  or 
other  dangers.  Turning  towards  the  south,  at  the 


6 


RHODE  ISLAND 


entrance  of  the  harbor,  on  both  sides,  there  are 
very  pleasant  hills,  and  many  streams  of  clear 
water,  which  flow  down  to  the  sea.  In  the  midst 
of  the  entrance,  there  is  a rock  of  free  stone  [Goat 
Island],  formed  by  nature,  and  suitable  for  the 
construction  of  any  kind  of  machine  or  bulwark 
for  the  defense  of  the  harbor.” 

But  Yerrazano  possibly  was  not  the  first  Euro- 
pean to  visit  the  bay  in  question.  As  early  as  the 
tenth  century,  according  to  Norse  tradition,  Leif, 
son  of  Eric,  sailed  from  Greenland  to  the  west 
and  south  and  wintered  upon  the  New  England 
coast  at  a point  which  he  called  Yinland,  on  a bay 
identified  by  the  Danish  scholar  Rafn  as  that  of 
Mount  Hope.  In  the  opinion  of  the  enthusiastic 
Rafn,  the  Old  Stone  Mill  at  Newport,  the  mill 
which  Governor  Benedict  Arnold  had  built  about 
1675,  and  of  which  he  makes  repeated  mention  in 
his  last  will  and  testament,  was  of  Norse  construc- 
tion. 

After  Yerrazano,  map-makers  were  wont  to  des- 
ignate Narragansett  Bay  as  the  Bay  of  St.  Juan 
Baptist,  although  Yerrazano  himself  had  chris- 
tened it  the  Bay  of  Refuge.  It  remained  the 
Bay  of  St.  Juan  until  1614,  when  a Dutchman, 
Adriaen  Block,  emulating  the  brave  Henry  Hud- 
son, who  fourteen  years  before  had  sailed  up  the 
lordly  North  River,  appeared  off  Point  J udith  in 
a little  ship  of  sixteen  tons.  Block  touched  at  the 
three-cornered  island  which  Yerrazano  had  named 


NARRAGANSETT  BAY 


7 


Luisa,  and  gave  to  it  his  own  name,  Block  — 
Block  Eylandt.  He  then  carefully  explored  the 
Bay  of  St.  Juan,  calling  it  Nassau.  The  west 
passage  he  called  Sloop  Bay,  and  the  east  passage 
Anchor  Bay.  A small  island,  believed  from  his 
account  of  its  location  to  have  been  Hope  (it  lay 
to  the  west  of  Aquidneck),  he  described  as  “ een 
rodtlich  Eylandken.” 

For  sketches  of  the  Indians  of  the  Narragansett 
region  we  are  indebted  to  both  Yerrazano  and 
Block.  At  the  time  of  Block’s  visit  the  Wampa- 
noags,  or  Pokanokets,  would  seem  to  have  been  in 
occupation  of  the  principal  islands  of  the  bay,  and 
the  Mohegans  and  Nyantics  of  the  mainland  to 
the  west.  Later  on  the  Narragansetts,  who  abode 
between  the  Mohegans  and  W ampanoags,  extended 
their  dominion  to  the  eastward.  By  1636,  the 
date  of  the  coming  of  Roger  Williams,  the  Nar- 
ragansetts had  established  a suzerainty  over  the 
Wampanoags,  but  on  the  west  they  were  held  in 
check  by  the  warlike  Mohegans  and  Pequods, 
the  latter  an  invading  tribe  from  the  north.  Of 
all  the  tribes  of  southern  New  England,  the  Nar- 
ragansetts were  the  most  numerous  — eight  or  ten 
thousand  souls  ; and  their  chief  sachems,  the  aged 
Canonicus  and  youthful  Miantonomi,  were  men 
of  exceptional  astuteness.  Of  unusual  qualities 
also  were  the  chief  sachems,  respectively,  of  the 
Wampanoags,  Mohegans,  and  Pequods,  — Massa- 
soit,  Uncas,  and  Sassacus. 


8 


RHODE  ISLAND 


Occupation  of  Rhode  Island  on  the  part  of  the 
English  was  first  by  an  agricultural  class,  and  next 
by  a class  that  was  commercial.  In  recent  years  it 
has  been  by  an  industrial  class.  The  agricultural- 
ists, who  never  formed  a very  numerous  group,  dis- 
persed themselves  over  Aquidneck  and  through  the 
valleys  of  the  Seekonk,  the  Woonasquatucket,  the 
Pawtuxet,  and  the  Pawcatuck,  and  became  (in  the 
more  remote  sections)  ignorant,  superstitious,  and 
prejudiced.  With  the  decline  of  agriculture,  the  best 
representatives  of  the  group  entered  commerce,  or, 
after  the  Revolutionary  War,  migrated  northwest- 
ward into  Vermont  and  New  York  ; and  those  left 
behind  — the  less  energetic  — tended  yet  more  to 
degenerate  into  a class  of  poor  whites. 

Availing  themselves  (as  they  freely  did)  of  the 
fresh  water  meadows  and  salt  marshes  for  their 
cattle  and  horses,  and  of  the  woods  and  barrens 
for  their  swine  and  sheep,  the  Rhode  Island  agri- 
culturists made  no  great  impression  on  the  Narra- 
gansett  wilderness  outside  of  Aquidneck  ; and  with 
the  development  of  commerce  the  impression  made 
was  still  less,  for  commerce  tended  to  draw  popu- 
lation (the  best  of  it)  to  the  commercial  centres  — 
Newport  and  Providence.  With  the  rise  of  manu- 
factures the  river  valleys  became  scenes  of  greater 
activity  than  ever  before  ; but  in  the  interior,  away 
from  the  valleys,  there  reigned  a solitude  that  was 
profound.  Agriculture  now  became  markedly  de- 
pressed, and  the  depression  has  not  as  yet  been 


N ARR AGAN SETT  BAY 


9 


dispelled.  Mr.  Josiah  B.  Bowditch,  after  a review 
of  the  census  figures  for  1900,  concludes  that  the 
farming  population  of  Rhode  Island  to-day  is  no 
greater  than  it  was  in  1790.  Some  towns,  as,  for 
example,  West  Greenwich,  have  declined  from  as 
early  a date  as  1748. 

To  take  one’s  station  on  a Rhode  Island  hill  and 
permit  one’s  glance  to  traverse  the  Narragansett 
Bay  region,  is  to  behold  a commonwealth  occupied 
in  its  main  valleys  (those  of  the  Blackstone  and 
Pawtuxet)  and  along  its  coast  line  by  an  active 
population  of  nearly  four  hundred  thousand  souls 
and  its  back  country  by  an  inactive  population 
of  not  much  to  exceed  thirty  thousand  souls.  This 
back  country,  moreover,  one  would  perceive  to  be 
a country  of  hills  and  forest.  “ The  huge  rollers,” 
observes  Mr.  Clarence  Deming,  “ stretch  to  the 
horizon  in  endless  rise  and  slope  . . . and  over  all 
is  laid  the  thick  mantle  of  the  woods,  unbroken  save 
by  one  or  two  brown  houses  on  a distant  hill,  or  by 
a clearing  so  infrequent  and  small  that  it  accents 
the  ocean  of  forest.  . . . Swift  and  clear  streams 
pour  through  the  valleys,  fed  by  springs  and  sus- 
tained in  drought  by  the  swamps ; the  underbrush 
is  dense,  and  through  vast  areas  all  but  impenetra- 
ble, with  such  cover  for  quail,  partridge,  and  wood- 
cock as  seems  to  challenge  the  most  destroying 
energy  of  the  pot-hunter ; the  wildest  of  wild 
flowers,  such  as  the  cypripedium,  grow  by  the  very 
roadside  in  their  season  ; lakes  and  ponds,  reputed 


10 


RHODE  ISLAND 


to  have  good  black  bass  fishing,  show  hardly  a 
dwelling  on  their  shores  or  a boat  on  their  waters. 
. . . Old  taverns,  lodging  no  guest  and  with  no 
welcoming  host,  front  the  highways,  the  dim  ghosts 
of  old  revelry  seeming  to  peer  through  shattered 
pane  and  shutter.  Half  the  farmhouses  are  de- 
serted and  in  every  degree  of  infirmity.  The 
houses  where  families  yet  abide  are  in  the  decrepit 
stage  of  unpainted  clapboard,  sagging  rafter,  and 
wry  fence.  . . . But  saddest  of  all  are  the  decay- 
ing monuments  of  what  was  once  a region  of  lively 
and  expansive  industry  — a whole  mill  village 
deserted.  ...  In  wildest  Rhode  Island  the  aban- 
doned mill  jostles  closely  the  abandoned  farm,  and 
both  have  gone  down  together  before  the  industrial 
wave  which  has  swept  the  smaller  factories  to  the 
railroad  and  shore  and  hived  the  workers  in  the 
greater  shops  under  higher  productive  organiza- 
tion.” 

Of  course  amid  a scene  of  desolation  such  as 
this  there  are  to  be  encountered  types  of  character 
all  the  quainter  from  their  surroundings.  Im- 
pressed with  the  fact,  Miss  Esther  B.  Carpenter, 
in  1887,  published  a delightful  series  of  character 
sketches  — “South  County  Neighbors.”  The  men 
and  women  she  depicts  are  survivals  from  the 
pristine  Narragansett  stock  with  its  “Old  Jobs” 
and  “ Young  Jobs  ” and  its  “ Uncle  Simons ; ” its 
“ Alzadys,”  “ Celindys,”  and  “ Lovisy  Anns  ; ” its 
“Oseys”  [Osiannas],  “Pashes”  [Patiences],  and 


NARRAGANSETT  BAY 


11 


“ Phylutys.”  “ Now,  neighbor,”  Uncle  Simon  was 
wont  to  remark,  “ what  d’  ye  think  makes  Squire 
Potter  and  Squire  Hazard  always  talk  to  me 
wheresumever  they  see  me  ? ” “ Why,  I don’t 

know,  Uncle  Simon.”  “Well,  neighbor,  I’ll  tell 
ye.  ’T  is  to  draar  knalidge  — yes,  to  draar  knal- 
idge.”  It  was  (we  are  assured  by  Miss  Carpenter) 
a favorite  hypothesis  of  Simon’s  that  if  he  could 
only  have  talked  with  King  George  the  Revolution 
need  never  have  occurred. 

But,  to  pursue  a query  propounded  by  Mr. 
Deming,  “ What  does  the  future  hold  for  Rhode 
Island’s  west,  where  nature  is  so  fast  overgrowing 
man,  where  meadows  and  sown  field  year  by  year 
shrink,  where  the  woodlands  expand,  and  the  farm 
problem  of  Yankeeland  repeats  itself  in  its  super- 
lative degree  ? Will  the  rich  sporting  patroons, 
who  have  begun  to  buy  up  the  forests  by  the  square 
mile  at  a dollar  or  two  an  acre,  realize  their  hopes 
of  a paradise  of  rod  and  gun  ? WTill  the  strange 
expanse  of  the  very  penumbra  of  busy  cities  be 
given  over  at  Jast  to  the  well-watched  preserves 
of  the  sportsmen’s  clubs  and  syndicates  ? Will  it 
in  the  maturing  of  the  science  of  forestry,  now  in 
bud,  become  the  source  of  lucrative  timber  sup- 
ply ? Or  as  populations  outside  wax  and  a refluent 
stream  of  wealth  pours  on  the  picturesque  sites  of 
New  England,  will  remote  posterity  see  the  semi- 
wilderness  cut  by  electric  roads,  the  truck  farmer 
or  tenant  driving  back  the  forest,  the  lauds  grown 


12 


RHODE  ISLAND 


fat  and  costly,  and  every  scenic  hilltop  crowned 
by  the  homes  of  the  rich  ? To  such  surmise,”  says 
Mr.  Deming,  “ whether  of  economist,  nature  lover, 
or  sportsman,  the  deepening  solitudes  of  wildest 
Rhode  Island  give  no  reply.” 

Possibly  not,  but  Professor  N.  S.  Shaler  of  Har- 
vard confidently  predicts  a time  when,  by  reason 
of  the  exhaustion  of  more  available  lands,  the 
lands  of  New  England,  especially  those  of  a marshy 
character,  will  be  widely  reclaimed.  Be  that  as  it 
may,  “ Rhode  Island’s  west  ” — its  sparsely  peo- 
pled, its  intensely  individualistic  and  separatist, 
west  — is  even  now  exerting  a preponderant  in- 
fluence in  Rhode  Island  affairs.  The  nature  and 
tendency  of  that  influence  are  reserved  for  consid- 
eration in  our  last  chapter. 


CHAPTER  II 


THE  AGE  OF  ROGER  WILLIAMS 

1.  Founding  of  Providence  and  Warwick 

The  age  of  Roger  Williams  in  Rhode  Island  cen- 
tres about  six  historic  names  and  four  geographical 
points.  The  names  are  Roger  Williams  and  Wil- 
liam Harris ; William  Coddington  and  J ohn  Clarke ; 
Samuel  Gorton  and  Anne  Hutchinson.  The  points 
are  Providence  and  Warwick  on  the  Rhode  Island 
mainland,  and  Newport  and  Portsmouth  on  the 
island  of  Aquidneck. 

Roger  Williams  was  born  in  London  about  1603. 
His  parents  were  James  and  Alice  (Pemberton) 
Williams,  and  the  occupation  of  his  father  was 
that  of  merchant  tailor.  Of  his  boyhood  years  we  ~ 
know  nothing.  Our  first  glimpse  of  him  is  ob- 
tained in  1620rwhen  he  was  a lad  of  seventeen. 
Williams  (probably  with  a view  to  a livelihood) 
had  learned  shorthand,  and  for  the  purpose  of 
practicing  his  art  had  obtained  permission  to  at- 
tend sessions  of  the  Court  of  Star  Chamber.  Here, 
by  his  alertness  of  mind  and  openness  of  heart, 
he  won  the  regard  of  Sir  Edward  Coke  — the 
grim  Sir  Edward  who,  as  chief  justice  of  the  Court 
of  King’s  Bench,  had  in  1616  withstood  to  his 


14 


RHODE  ISLAXD 


face  on  a question  of  prerogative  the  pedantic  James 
the  First.  Of  Williams  Coke  straightway  became 
the  patron,  and  as  such  he  in  1621  secured  for  him 
admission  to  the  Charterhouse  School,  an  institu- 
tion then  newly  founded  and  of  which  the  jurist 
himself  was  one  of  the  overseers.  In  1652  (long 
after  the  death  of  Coke)  Roger  Williams  sought 
to  enter  into  correspondence  with  a surviving 
daughter,  Mrs.  Anne  Sadleir  of  Standon,  Puck- 
ridge,  but  the  dame  — grim  by  disposition  like  her 
illustrious  parent  and  incensed  at  Williams  for  his 
iconoclastic  religious  views  — bound  his  letters  into 
a package  and  indorsed  upon  it : “ This  Roger  Wil- 
liams when  he  was  a youth  would  in  a shorthand 
take  sermons  and  speeches  in  the  Star  Chamber 
and  present  them  to  my  dear  father.  . . . Full  little 
did  he  think  that  he  would  have  proved  such  a rebel 
to  God,  the  King  and  his  country.  I leave  his  let- 
ters that,  if  ever  he  has  the  face  to  return  into  his 
native  country,  Tyburn  may  give  him  welcome.” 
From  the  Charterhouse  Williams  went  to  Pem- 
broke College,  Cambridge,  where  he  graduated  in 
1626.  His  inclination  at  first  was  for  the  law,  but 
the  times  were  times  of  theology,  and  in  1629  he 
was  filling  the  position  of  chaplain  to  Sir  William 
Masham  of  Otes,  in  Essex.  While  thus  employed 
he  fell  deeply  in  love  with  a niece  of  Lady 
Barrington,  the  Lady  Barrington  being  an  aunt 
to  Oliver  Cromwell.  Williams’s  love  affair  was  not 
prosperous.  He  had,  it  is  true,  won  the  heart  of 


THE  AGE  OF  ROGER  WILLIAMS 


15 


the  maiden  to  whom  he  aspired;  but  in  the  eyes 
of  Lady  Barrington  he  was  a match  altogether  un- 
suitable for  one  of  her  family,  and  his  passion  was 
frowned  upon.  In  complete  despair  he  wrote  to  the 
obdurate  lady  on  May  2,  1629:  “We  [his  sweet- 
heart and  himself]  hope  to  live  together  in  the 
heavens  though  ye  Lord  have  denied  that  union 
on  earth.”  But  this  was  not  all  that  he  did.  Cam- 
bridge, where  he  had  attended  college,  was  in 
Cambridgeshire,  one  of  those  eastern  counties  of 
England  into  which  there  had  long  been  migrating 
from  Holland  Anabaptists  and  Mennonites  imbued 
with  the  idea  of  severance  of  Church  from  State. 
With  this  idea  Williams  himself  had  become  im- 
pressed ; so  much  so,  indeed,  that  he  had  thought 
it  not  unimportant  to  acquire  a knowledge  of  the 
Dutch  tongue.  In  his  present  situation,  therefore, 
— crossed  in  love  and  a rebel  against  episcopacy,  — 
he  began  to  bend  his  gaze  across  the  sea  to  a new 
land : that  land  whither  already  had  departed  the 
Separatist  congregation  of  Nottinghamshire  Pil- 
grims, and  whither  the  Wintkrop  company  of 
Puritans  from  Lincolnshire  were  soon  to  set  out : 
a land,  moreover,  tenanted  by  a race  wild,  fantastic, 
and  in  need  of  Christianization  — the  land  of  the 
Massachusetts  Bay. 

On  February  5,  1631,  Roger  Williams  disem- 
barked at  Boston  from  the  ship  Lyon;  and  as 
though  to  emphasize  the  entirety  of  his  renunci- 
ation of  bygone  days  and  dreams,  he  disembarked 


16 


RHODE  ISLAND 


accompanied  by  a wife,  Mary  (nee  Barnard),  and 
without  having  visited  Stoke  House  to  say  farewell 
to  Sir  Edward,  his  patron,  whom  indeed  at  this 
time  it  would  scarcely  have  been  prudent  for  him 
to  face.  In  New  England  — first  at  Salem,  then 
at  Plymouth,  then  at  Salem  again  — Williams 
found  himself  constantly  and  from  the  first  in 
opposition  to  prevailing  ideas.  Where  he  had 
thought  to  find,  if  not  his  own  conceptions,  at 
least  room  for  the  assertion  of  those  conceptions, 
he  found  a hierarchy  of  ministers  and  elders  and 
a stiff  ecclesiastical  discipline ; a hierarchy  and 
discipline  to  which  the  distinctively  secular  agency, 
government,  was  in  practice  subordinated.  Yet 
the  conceptions  held  by  Williams  were  not  such  — 
all  of  them  — that  any  government  of  the  day 
could  wholly  have  passed  them  by.  They  involved 
opposition  to  the  charter  of  the  colony  because  it 
recognized  the  king  rather  than  the  Indians  as  the 
source  of  title  to  lands ; a delicate  point  at  the 
moment,  for  the  king  was  then  seeking  a pretext 
for  recalling  the  charter.  They  involved  opposition 
to  the  autonomy  of  the  colony  under  the  charter, 
for  they  were  antagonistic  to  judicial  oaths  by 
which  that  autonomy  was  sought  to  be  confirmed. 
Some  things,  however,  they  involved  that  the 
government  (had  it  been  secular)  could  well  have 
tolerated : for  instance,  that  the  civil  magistrate 
ought  not  to  be  empowered  to  punish  sins  as  such, 
offenses  purely  against  God  — the  acts  forbidden 


THE  AGE  OF  ROGER  WILLIAMS 


17 


in  the  first  table  of  the  Decalogue ; that,  in  other 
words,  magisterial  power  should  extend  only  to  the 
punishment  of  misdemeanors  and  crimes,  offenses 
against  man  — the  acts  forbidden  in  the  second 
table  of  the  Decalogue.  Upon  this  principle  there 
was  to  be  founded  the  commonwealth  of  Rhode 
Island. 

The  final  result  of  the  clash  between  Roger 
Williams  and  Massachusetts  was  that  on  October 
9,  1635,  Williams  was  ordered  to  depart  within 
six  weeks  out  of  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Bay,  as 
one  having  “broached  & dyvulged  dyvers  newe 
& dangerous  opinions,  against  the  aucthoritie  of 
magistrates,”  and  having  “ writ  Ires  of  defamacon 
both  of  the  magistrates  & churches.”  Afterwards 
the  sentence  of  expulsion  was  so  far  modified  that 
Williams  was  permitted  to  remain  in  Salem  until 
spring.  But  inasmuch  as  by  private  discourses 
and  exercises  he  continued  “to  draw  others  unto 
his  opinions,”  it  was  decided  in  January,  1636,  to 
send  him  to  England.  The  plan  was  revealed  to 
the  culprit  in  season  for  him  to  thwart  it  by  evad- 
ing Captain  John  Underhill,  who  had  been  charged 
with  its  execution,  and  soon,  amid  cold  and  deep 
snow,  he,  with  his  servant  Thomas  Angell,  was  on 
his  way  to  the  lodge  of  his  friend  Massasoit,  the 
sachem  of  the  Wampanoags. 

In  the  spring  of  1636  Williams  broke  ground 
for  a habitation  at  Seekonk  (East  Providence),  on 
the  east  bank  of  the  Seekonk  River.  Here  he  was 


18 


RHODE  ISLAND 


joined  by  three  companions,  among  them  William 
Harris.  The  party  would  have  remained  where 
they  were,  but  were  warned  away  as  trespassers  by 
Plymouth,  and  in  the  summer  removed  to  Moos- 
hassuc  and  began  to  lay  the  foundations  of  Provi- 
dence. 

The  arrival  at  Seekonk  of  William  Harris  was 
an  occurrence  most  significant  for  the  Providence 
settlement.  Williams  and  Harris  had  come  to 
Massachusetts  in  the  same  ship,  but  by  tempera- 
ment and  training  were  antipathetic  to  a degree. 
Williams  was  an  idealist;  Harris  was  a realist. 
The  former  was  generous,  full  of  compassion,  and 
not  altogether  practical.  The  latter  was  keen, 
hard,  and  regardful  of  personal  advantage.  The 
Providence  which  together  they  succeeded  in  cre- 
ating partook  of  the  characteristics  of  both ; and 
throughout  the  lives  of  both,  lives  lasting  almost 
to  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century,  was  racked 
by  the  dissensions  of  themselves  and  of  their  re- 
spective adherents. 

Among  the  motives  which  had  inspired  the  com- 
ing of  Roger  Williams  to  America  was  a desire  to 
convert  the  Indians,  “ to  do  the  natives  good.”  At 
Plymouth  the  newly  arrived  clergyman  had  early 
made  friends  with  Massasoit ; and  as  a result  of 
excursions  into  the  Narragansett  country,  during 
which  he  had  carefully  studied  the  Algonquin 
tongue,  he  had  entered  into  relations  with  Canoni- 
cus  and  Miantonomi.  When,  therefore,  he  and  his 


THE  AGE  OF  ROGER  WILLIAMS 


19 


companions  — a party  of  five  — found  themselves 
at  Mooshassuc,  Williams  was  master  of  the  situa- 
tion. The  Indians  knew  him  and  respected  him, 
and  in  the  fullness  of  their  knowledge  and  respect 
executed  to  him  on  March  24,  1638,  a conveyance 
of  a township  of  land  on  the  Mooshassuc  and  Paw- 
tuxet  rivers.  It  was  the  intention  of  the  grantee 
to  devote  the  gift  to  charitable  uses.  He  meant  to 
make  of  it  in  part  a mission  station,  and  in  part  a 
basis  for  a communal  society  composed  of  persons 
“ distressed  for  conscience.”  To  the  latter  design 
he  probably  was  led  by  the  circumstance  that  per- 
sons distressed  for  conscience  — persons  harassed 
at  Plymouth  or  at  the  Bay  — were  already  congre- 
gating about  him. 

But  just  here  William  Harris  began  to  assert 
himself.  He  was  willing  that  idealism,  in  the  form 
of  affection,  philanthropy,  and  religion,  should  win 
from  the  Indians  a tract  of  land ; but  he  was  not 
willing  that  the  land  so  won  should  remain  “a 
common  stock  ” for  the  benefit  of  all  “ distressed  ” 
comers.  Individual  ownership  was  what  he  sought, 
and  by  October  8,  1638,  he  had  so  far  “ wearied  ” 
Williams  by  importunities  that  the  latter  executed 
to  twelve  men  — Stukeley  Westcott,  William  Ar- 
nold, Thomas  James,  Robert  Cole,  John  Greene, 
John  Throckmorton,  William  Harris,  William  Car- 
penter, Thomas  Olney,  Francis  Weston,  Richard 
Waterman,  and  Ezekiel  Holliman  — a deed  con- 
stituting the  twelve  (along  with  the  grantor)  a 


20 


RHODE  ISLAND 


“ fellowship  ” in  the  Indian  grant.  The  deed  did 
not  create  a partnership  ; it  created  a corporation. 
But  to  convert  the  corporate  holding  largely  into 
holdings  in  severalty  was  the  work  of  but  a little 
time.  In  fact,  during  the  same  autumn  so  much  of 
the  Indian  grant  as  lay  upon  the  Pawtuxet  River 
(a  portion  called  the  “ Pawtuxet  Purchase  ”)  was, 
by  agreement  between  the  proprietaries,  parti- 
tioned into  several  tracts. 

The  government  which  under  Williams  was  first 
instituted  at  Providence  was  by  “ masters  of  fami- 
lies.’’ The  masters  met  once  a fortnight  and  dis- 
patched business  “ by  mutual  consent.”  By  August 
or  September,  1636,  there  had  been  admitted  into 
the  community  a body  of  “ young  men,  single  per- 
sons.” The  government  now  was  rendered  more 
definite  by  a stipulation,  concluded  between  the 
early  comers  and  “young  men,”  that  the  latter 
were  to  be  subject  “ in  active  and  passive  obe- 
dience ” to  the  orders  of  the  major  part  of  the 
“ present  inhabitants,  masters  of  families,  incorpo- 
rated into  a town,  and  such  others  as  they  should 
admit,  only  in  civil  things.”  In  1640  a board  of 
five  disposers,  or  selectmen,  was  established,  to 
“be  betrusted”  with  general  matters,  and  a sys- 
tem of  arbitration  was  set  up.  In  the  above  men- 
tioned cautious  and  tentative  contrivances  the  in- 
dividualism implied  in  the  doctrine  of  Soul  Liberty 
or  Freedom  of  Conscience  was  sought  as  fully  as 
possible  to  be  carried  into  the  domain  of  politics. 


THE  AGE  OF  ROGER  WILLIAMS 


21 


There  were  no  magistrates  ; there  was  no  consta- 
ble. As  Williams  had  written  to  Governor  John 
Winthrop  of  Massachusetts  in  1636,  “ the  face  of 
magistracy  did  not  suit  with  [the]  condition  [of 
the  settlement].” 

In  March  or  April,  1641,  Samuel  Gorton  ap- 
peared in  Providence.  He  was  a man  of  some  pre- 
tensions to  family,  and,  like  the  father  of  Roger 
Williams,  a London  clothier.  He  also  was  a theo- 
logian — one  of  those  extreme  products  of  the 
Reformation  in  whom  the  age  abounded  ; men  and 
women  actuated  toward  the  large  mysteries  of  life, 
redemption,  and  immortality  by  a spirit  of  daring 
challenge,  and  just  enough  schooled  to  obscure 
their  lucubrations  by  garbing  them  in  Hebrew 
imagery.  As  an  extremist,  Gorton  believed  in 
Freedom  of  Conscience.  Hence  in  politics  he  was 
an  individualist ; but  to  his  political  individualism 
there  was  imparted  stability  by  the  circumstance 
that  he  was  a profound  admirer  of  the  English 
common  law.  Wherever  that  law  was  enthroned 
and  observed,  there  for  him  was  civil  liberty ; and 
wherever  it  was  not  enthroned,  or  was  not  observed, 
there  for  him  was  civil  tyranny. 

Up  to  the  time  of  his  advent  upon  the  Mooshas- 
suc,  the  life  of  Gorton  in  New  England  had  been 
a succession  of  small  tempests.  At  Plymouth, 
where,  in  1637,  he  had  removed  from  rigid  Boston, 
he  had  had  an  altercation  with  the  magistrates  over 
their  treatment  of  his  serving  maid  for  “ smiling 


22 


RHODE  ISLAND 


in  church ; ” with  the  issue  that  in  December, 
1638,  he  had  been  banished  for  “ contempt.” 
From  Plymouth  he  (Roger  Williams  like)  had 
made  his  way,  through  “ snow  to  the  knee,”  to 
Portsmouth,  on  the  island  of  Aquidneck.  Here, 
within  a brief  time,  he  had  become  involved  in 
behalf  of  another  serving  maid  — one  charged  with 
assault  — and  in  due  course  (for  his  own  defiance 
of  authority)  had  been  banished  to  the  mainland. 
But  Gorton’s  career,  though  thus  a series  of  conten- 
tions, was  not  altogether  a madness.  At  Plymouth 
the  proceedings  in  restraint  of  the  levity  of  his 
servant  were  to  him  ecclesiastically  tyrannous  as 
against  conscience,  and  civilly  tyrannous  in  that 
(as  conducted)  prosecutor  and  judge,  contrary  to 
English  law,  were  one.  At  Portsmouth  none  of 
the  proceedings  were  to  him  justifiable,  because  on 
Aquidneck  the  government  was  neither  of  royal 
nor  popular  origin,  but  “ set  up  of  itself.” 

The  reception  accorded  to  Gorton  by  Roger 
Williams  was  far  from  cordial.  He  demanded 
that  the  fugitive,  as  a condition  precedent  to  ad- 
mission to  the  town  fellowship,  exculpate  himself 
from  the  charges  brought  against  him  at  Ports- 
mouth ; and  in  this  demand  he  was  sustained  vig- 
orously by  William  Arnold.  Gorton,  on  his  part, 
found  the  situation  at  Providence  no  more  worthy 
of  respect  than  on  the  island.  A few  men,  without 
authority  from  the  king  of  England,  or  from  any 
source  other  than  themselves,  were  (with  their  fam- 


THE  AGE  OF  ROGER  WILLIAMS 


23 


ilies)  occupying  houses  distributed  along  a nar- 
row highway  skirting  the  Mooshassuc  and  called 
“ the  towne  street.”  Besides  a house -lot,  these  men 
owned  each  a six-acre  pasture  or  arable  field;  and 
as  a body  (as  a fellowship  or  corporation)  they 
owned  all  the  rest  of  Providence.  And  not  only 
so,  but  thirteen  of  them  were  owners,  each,  of  a 
great  estate  on  the  Pawtuxet.  Surely  this  was  all 
wrong,  all  an  illegal  monopoly,  and  should  be  over- 
thrown. 

Gorton  had  been  accompanied  from  Portsmouth 
by  various  disciples,  and  he  made  further  converts 
at  Providence.  In  his  train  now  were  Randall 
Holden  and  John  Greene ; and  the  entire  party 
— after  bringing  the  settlement  so  near  to  revolu- 
tion that  Roger  Williams,  who  at  first  “ in  Christ’s 
name  had  withstood  [the  intruder],”  at  length 
gave  up  the  contest  and  seriously  bethought  him- 
self of  flight  to  the  island  of  Patience  — settled 
down  at  Pawtuxet.  At  Pawtuxet,  however,  there 
were  the  Arnolds  — William  and  his  son  Benedict ; 
and  the  Arnolds_were  of  no  mean  order  of  ability. 
Their  best  energies  were  at  once  directed  to  the 
task  of  ridding  the  region  of  the  burden  of  Gorton. 

Already  in  1641  Massachusetts  had  let  fall  the 
pregnant  hint  that  it  might  operate  for  quiet  and 
good  order  on  the  Mooshassuc  and  Pawtuxet  if 
the  more  substantial  inhabitants  were  to  subject 
themselves  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Bay.  So  in 
the  autumn  of  1642,  the  Arnolds  and  their  family 


24 


RHODE  ISLAND 


connections  made  subjection  in  the  name  of  Paw- 
tuxet,  and  notice  of  the  fact  was  promptly  con- 
veyed to  Gorton  by  Governor  Winthrop.  The 
Gortonists  had  been  neatly  circumvented,  and  in 
January,  1643,  they,  after  dispatching  to  Boston 
a letter  stigmatizing  the  Puritans  as  a merciless 
Jewish  brotherhood,  removed  to  Shawomet.  Shaw- 
omet  was  a district  embracing  what  to-day  are 
the  towns  of  Warwick  and  Coventry.  It  was  ob- 
tained by  the  Gortonists  from  Miantonomi  and 
two  local  sachems,  Pumham  and  Sacononoco. 
Gorton  possessed  something  of  Williams’s  faculty 
for  ingratiating  himself  with  the  Indians,  and  his 
purchase  of  Shawomet  marked  the  beginning  of  a 
friendship  between  himself  and  Miantonomi  that 
was  to  be  provocative  of  much. 

Having  forced  Gorton  from  Pawtuxet,  the  Ar- 
nolds next  resolved  to  force  him  from  Shawomet. 
Massachusetts  had  served  their  purpose  once,  it 
should  be  baited  to  do  so  again.  In  May,  1643, 
Pumham  and  Sacononoco  were  taken  by  Benedict 
Arnold  to  Boston,  and,  offering  to  submit  them- 
selves and  Shawomet  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
Bay,  were  graciously  received.  Pumham  acknow- 
ledged that  he  had  signed  a deed  for  Shawomet  to 
the  Gortonists,  but  professed  to  have  been  driven 
to  the  act  through  the  sinister  influence  of  Sam- 
uel Gorton  over  Miantonomi,  his  overlord.  Ac- 
cordingly both  Gorton  and  Miantonomi  were 
summoned  to  appear  and  show  cause  why  the  Gor- 


THE  AGE  OF  ROGER  WILLIAMS 


25 


tonists  should  not  be  evicted  from  their  holdings 
as  trespassers.  Furthermore,  commissioners  were 
sent  to  Shawomet  and  Pawtuxet  to  inquire  into 
conditions  on  the  spot,  and  to  take  in  writing  the 
answers  of  the  local  sachems  to  a series  of  interro- 
gatories on  the  ten  commandments.  If  Massachu- 
setts became  sponsor  for  Pumham  and  Sacononoco, 
it  must  be  on  a satisfactory  profession  of  their 
faith.  The  profession  proved  to  be  satisfactory, 
and  on  June  22  a formal  deed  of  submission  from 
the  Indians  was  accepted. 

Miantonomi  obeyed  the  summons  to  Boston,  but 
Samuel  Gorton  did  not.  The  latter  in  September 
(pursuing  a favorite  method)  reduced  his  views  to 
writing.  These  views  were  that  the  head  of  the 
State  in  Massachusetts  was  an  “ Idol  General  — a 
Satan  transforming  himself  into  an  angel  of  light ; ” 
and  that  his  subjects  “ lived  by  blood  ” through 
persecutions.  “ If,”  continued  the  epistle,  “ your 
sword  be  drawn,  ours  is  girt  upon  our  thigh.” 

In  this  plain  challenge  to  arms,  Gorton  perhaps 
was  indiscreet.  At  all  events  Massachusetts,  the 
next  month,  put  in  the  field  a company  of  soldiers 
and  advanced  on  Shawomet.  The  Gortonists  took 
refuge  in  a log  house  where  they  fortified  them- 
selves, and  to  the  fortress  the  invaders  laid  siege. 
A lively  fire  was  directed  upon  the  structure  with- 
out harm  to  the  inmates,  but,  after  a few  days,  the 
latter  — upon  (as  they  always  insisted)  a promise 
of  “ safe  conduct  ” — consented  to  accompany  the 


26 


RHODE  ISLAND 


besiegers  to  Boston ; in  a word,  capitulated.  At 
Boston  the  Gortonists  were  put  on  trial,  not  as 
would  be  supposed  for  trespass,  or  for  anything 
connected  with  title  to  the  Shawomet  lands,  but 
for  heresy.  If  they  could  be  convicted  of  that,  all 
else  would  naturally  follow.  They  were  convicted, 
and  death  well-nigh  became  their  portion.  In  lieu 
of  death  they  were  thrust  in  chains  and  set  at 
hard  labor.  At  length,  in  the  spring  of  1644,  their 
presence  becoming  an  embarrassment,  they  were 
liberated  ; but  with  the  understanding  that  they 
were  to  betake  themselves  forever  from  the  soil  of 
Massachusetts,  Providence,  and  Shawomet. 

When,  in  January,  1643,  Miantonomi  affixed 
his  hand  to  the  deed  of  Shawomet  to  Gorton,  he 
little  foresaw  that  virtually  he  was  affixing  his 
hand  to  a warrant  for  his  own  undoing ; but  so  it 
proved.  On  May  19, 1643,  the  New  England  Con- 
federation was  formed.  It  embraced  Massachusetts, 
Plymouth,  Connecticut,  and  New  Haven.  Of  these 
colonies  Connecticut  was  on  the  border  and  had 
suffered  severely  from  the  Indians.  It  responded 
in  alarm  to  every  rumor  of  an  Indian  uprising  and 
kept  urging  upon  Massachusetts  action  concern- 
ing the  Narragansetts,  against  whom  the  jealousy 
of  its  own  Indian  allies  — the  Mohegans  — con- 
stantly bred  charges  of  treachery. 

Massachusetts,  in  1640  and  again  in  1642,  had 
investigated  like  charges,  and,  finding  them  with- 
out foundation,  had  become  convinced  of  the  good- 


THE  AGE  OF  ROGER  WILLIAMS  27 

will  of  the  subjects  of  Canonicus  and  Miantonomi ; 
but  after  the  sale  of  Shawomet  to  Gorton  its  atti- 
tude changed.  The  presumption  now  in  the  mind 
of  the  Bay  — now  that  Miantonomi  had  cemented 
a friendship  with  Gorton,  with  Gorton  the  heretic, 
Gorton  “ the  beast,”  Gorton  “ the  blasphemer  ” — 
was  converted  from  one  of  innocence  to  one  of 
guilt.  Accordingly,  when  in  July,  1643,  Mianto- 
nomi, as  the  result  of  an  attack  upon  the  Mohe- 
gans,  was  made  captive  by  them  and  held  pending 
a decision  as  to  his  fate  by  the  United  Colonies, 
Massachusetts,  acting  the  part  of  a Pontius  Pilate, 
surrendered  the  unfortunate  sachem  — its  own  oft- 
tried  friend  — unto  the  vengeance  of  Connecticut 
and  its  allies.  Miantonomi  was  condemned  to  death, 
and  on  a day  in  September,  at  a spot  near  the  pre- 
sent Connecticut  town  of  Norwich,  was  slain  by 
Uncas  the  Mohegan,  with  a war-hatchet. 

2.  The  Pequod  War  ; Portsmouth  and  Newport . 

On  the  part  of  the  Pequods  — the  most  warlike 
of  the  New  England  Indian  tribes  — a hostile  at- 
titude toward  the  English  had  early  begun  to  be 
manifested.  By  the  summer  of  1636  this  attitude 
had  become  so  marked  that  Massachusetts,  fearing 
the  consequences,  set  to  work  to  secure  the  friend- 
ship of  the  Narragansetts.  With  the  latter  (through 
the  earnest  and  hazardous  labors  of  Roger  Wil- 
liams) an  alliance  was  formed.  The  Pequods  thus 
placed  in  isolation  were,  on  the  morning  of  May  26, 


28 


RHODE  ISLAND 


1637,  surprised  in  their  stronghold  on  the  Mystic 
River  by  the  combined  forces  of  Massachusetts  and 
Connecticut,  and  almost  to  a man  delivered  to  the 
sword. 

The  destruction  of  the  Pequods  removed  from 
the  Narragansett  region  all  immediate  peril  from 
the  Indians  ; and  winning  in  the  aspect  of  its  woods 
and  waters  as  by  nature  the  region  was,  it  held 
forth  in  its  unsettled  parts  a seductive  and  insist- 
ent invitation  to  the  pioneer.  Those  to  accept  the 
invitation  were  a band  of  refugees  from  Boston  — 
the  Antinomians.  Not  long  after  the  banishment 
of  Williams  there  had  arisen  at  Boston  a spirit  of 
strong  reaction  against  the  formalism,  the  rigid 
ecclesiasticism,  of  Massachusetts.  Here  and  there 
protests  began  to  be  heard  regarding  the  Puritan 
doctrine  of  salvation  by  works  as  inculcated  on 
Sabbaths  and  Lecture  Days  by  the  pastor  of  the 
Boston  Church,  the  Rev.  John  Wilson.  Anne 
Hutchinson  and  her  brother-in-law,  John  Wheel- 
wright (both  from  near  Boston  in  Lincolnshire) 
were  the  most  pronounced  of  the  innovators  ; but 
John  Cotton,  the  associate  of  Wilson,  was  himself 
an  innovator;  and  even  Sir  Henry  Yane,  who  in 
1636  had  been  chosen  governor,  was  an  anti-legalist. 

With  a view  to  settling  doctrine  and  restoring 
discipline,  there  was  held  at  Cambridge  in  Septem- 
ber, 1637,  a synod  of  the  Massachusetts  churches. 
The  movement  was  so  far  effective  that  it  bridled 
Cotton ; but  neither  Mistress  Hutchinson  nor  J ohn 


THE  AGE  OF  ROGER  WILLIAMS 


29 


Wheelwright  was  cowed  by  it,  and  in  November 
both  were  brought  to  trial  as  fomenters  of  sedition 
— disturbers  of  the  civil  peace.  Wheelwright  was 
found  guilty  and  at  once  banished.  Mistress  Hutch- 
inson, too,  was  found  guilty,  but  banishment  was 
deferred  until  she  should  have  been  tried  by  the 
Boston  Church  for  heresy.  . 

As  a result  of  the  proceedings  above  described, 
and  of  an  order  by  the  Massachusetts  government 
for  disarming  such  persons  as  sympathized  with  the 
victims,  a considerable  party  of  Boston  people, 
headed  by  William  Coddington  and  John  Clarke, 
set  forth  in  March,  1688,  to  seek  to  the  southward 
a more  congenial  place  of  abiding.  The  party  had 
Delaware  in  view,  but  owing  to  detention  at  Cape 
Cod  were  enabled  to  hold  (through  their  leaders) 
a conference  with  Roger  Williams  at  Providence. 
At  Williams’s  suggestion,  and  by  his  aid,  there 
was  obtained  on  March  24  a deed  from  Canonicus 
and  Miantonomi  “ to  William  Coddington  and  his 
friends  united  under  him  ” for  Aquidneck  (the  is- 
land of  Rhode  Island)  in  Narragansett  Bay ; and 
hither  the  Antinomian  company  straightway  re- 
paired to  lay  the  foundations  of  Portsmouth. 

William  Coddington  was  born  in  Boston,  Eng- 
land, in  1601,  and  in  his  native  town  was  a man  of 
substance  and  position.  When  the  corporation  of 
Massachusetts  Bay  was  formed,  he  was  made  one 
of  the  assistants  or  council,  and  later  became  trea- 
surer. On  the  trial  of  Anne  Hutchinson  for  sedi- 


30 


RHODE  ISLAND 


tion,  he  boldly  withstood  Winthrop,  John  Endicott, 
and  the  clergy.  John  Clarke  was  born  on  October 
8, 1609,  in  Bedfordshire.  He  was  by  calling  a phy- 
sician, and  his  general  education  was  unusual  for 
the  time.  On  arriving  at  Boston  in  1637,  he,  like 
Williams  before  him,  was  astounded  at  the  bigotry 
which  he  found  enthroned,  and  immediately  began 
casting  about  him  for  a more  liberal  retreat.  Now 
that  a retreat  had  been  found,  the  next  step  was  to 
erect  a government ; and  it  seems  to  have  been  a 
step  somewhat  summarily  taken.  Indeed,  at  first, 
the  Antinomians  did  little  else  than  re-erect  the 
Jewish  system  whence  they  so  lately  had  fled.  Al- 
ready at  Providence  they  had  chosen  Codding - 
ton  chief  magistrate  under  the  title  of  Judge, 
and  upon  their  occupation  of  the  island  no  change 
was  made  until  January,  1639,  when  three  elders 
(John  Coggeshall,  Nicholas  Easton,  and  William 
Brenton)  were  chosen  “ to  assist  in  the  execution 
of  justice  and  judgment.” 

In  the  nature  of  things  a theocracy  on  the  island 
of  Aquidneck  could  not  long  endure.  Antinomian- 
ism  in  the  very  term  implied  oppugnancy  to  forms. 
It  was  of  the  spirit,  and  the  spirit  must  be  free. 
Then,  too,  on  Aquidneck,  Antinomianism  was  suc- 
cored by  the  influence  of  two  extraordinary  person- 
alities — Anne  Hutchinson  and  Samuel  Gorton. 
The  former  had  come  to  Portsmouth  (where  her 
husband  William  Hutchinson  had  preceded  her) 
at  the  conclusion  of  her  trial  for  heresy,  — a trial 


THE  AGE  OF  ROGER  WILLIAMS  31 

in  the  issue  of  which  she  had  been  pronounced 
excommunicate  and  delivered  up  to  Satan, — and 
Gorton  had  come  fresh  from  his  legal  tussle  with 
the  magistrates  of  Plymouth.  So  pronounced  now 
was  the  latitudinarian  tendency  that  it  alarmed 
both  Coddington  and  Clarke.  On  April  29,  1639, 
they,  together  with  their  more  immediate  friends, 

— William  Dyer,  Thomas  Hazard,  and  Henry  Bull, 

— abandoned  Portsmouth,  and,  proceeding  to  the 
southerly  end  of  the  island,  established  a new  settle- 
ment — Newport. 

At  Newport  the  system  of  government  by  judge 
and  elders  was  reinaugurated,  and  to  the  judge 
there  was  accorded  “ a double  voice.”  At  Ports- 
mouth, meanwhile,  ideas  essentially  Antinomian 
were  given  scope.  The  community  made  formal 
acknowledgment  of  King  Charles  I and  (perhaps 
as  a concession  to  Gorton)  adopted  the  common 
law.  They  elected,  for  one  year,  a chief  magis- 
trate (William  Hutchinson)  and  eight  assistants 
or  councilmen,  and  established  quarterly  courts 
and  trial  by  jury.  The  separation  of  the  two  island 
towns  lasted  until  March  12,  1640,  when,  dis- 
covering that  separated  they  were  weak,  they 
resumed  the  original  union.  Separation,  however, 
had  taught  to  each  a lesson  — the  lesson  taught 
of  old  by  Menaenius  Agrippa.  At  Portsmouth  it 
had  taught  that  radicalism  may  be  too  radical 
and  end  in  anarchy.  At  Newport  it  had  taught 
that  conservatism  may  be  too  conservative  and  end 


32 


RHODE  ISLAND 


in  tyranny.  The  government  which  the  reunion 
brought  into  effect  was  characterized  by  wise  fea- 
tures of  both  radicalism  and  conservatism.  There 
were  to  be  a governor  and  deputy-governor  and 
four  assistants  — all  annually  chosen.  The  gov- 
ernor and  two  of  the  assistants  were  always  to  be 
chosen  by  one  of  the  towns,  and  the  deputy-gov- 
ernor and  two  of  the  assistants  were  always  to  be 
chosen  by  the  other  of  the  towns.  There  also  were 
to  be  chosen,  annually,  two  treasurers,  a secretary, 
two  constables,  and  a general  sergeant.  Nor  did 
the  work  of  statesmanship  stop  here.  In  1641  the 
State  was  formally  declared  a democracy  under 
the  control  of  the  “ Body  of  Freemen  orderly 
assembled,  or  the  major  part  of  them,”  and  no 
one  was  to  be  “ accounted  a delinquent  for  Doc- 
trine” who  kept  the  civil  peace.  Already  there  had 
been  adopted  the  common  law  with  its  scheme  of 
magisterial  courts,  courts  of  quarter  sessions,  and 
jury  of  the  vicinage. 

Now  that  the  island  of  Aquidneck  had  become 
a political  entity,  the  contrast  between  it  and  the 
entity  (or  nonentity)  Providence  was  marked  in 
the  extreme.  By  Providence  there  was  symbolized 
individualism  both  religious  and  political  — a force 
centrifugal,  disjunctive,  and  even  disruptive.  By 
Aquidneck  (and  especially  by  the  Newport  part  of 
it)  there  was  symbolized  collectivism  — a collec- 
tivism thoroughly  individualized  as  to  religion,  but 
in  politics  conjunctive  and  centripetal.  On  Aquid- 


THE  AGE  OF  ROGER  WILLIAMS 


33 


neck,  as  at  Providence,  the  employment  of  the  peo- 
ple was  agriculture  — swine  and  sheep  breeding, 
the  breeding  of  horses,  and  dairy  farming.  Agri- 
culture everywhere  tends  to  separatism ; and  in 
early  Rhode  Island  it  emphasized  the  individual- 
istic bent  imparted  by  the  idea  of  Freedom  of  Con- 
science. During  the  age  of  Roger  Williams  that 
which  we  are  bidden  to  contemplate  on  the  shores 
of  Narragansett  Bay  is  a struggle  for  supremacy 
between  separatism  and  collectivism. 

3.  Providence  Plantations  — the  Patent  of  16 

When  pondering  the  question  of  reunion  with 
Portsmouth,  the  Newport  government  had  instructed 
Mr.  John  Clarke  and  Elder  Nicholas  Easton  “to 
inform  Mr.  Yane  by  writing  of  the  state  of  things 
here,  and  desire  him  to  treate  about  the  obtaining 
a Patent  of  the  Island  from  his  Majesty.”  Nothing 
had  resulted,  and  in  1642  it  was  decided  to  send  to 
England  a representative  — Roger  Williams. 

Williams,  because  of  the  decree  forbidding  his 
presence  in  Massachusetts,  set  sail  in  1648  from 
New  York  in  a Dutch  ship,  and  late  in  the  summer 
or  early  in  the  autumn  reached  London.  Here  he 
met  Sir  Henry  Yane,  — the  young  Sir  Henry  whom 
he  had  known  in  Boston  in  1635,  now  prominent  in 
the  councils  of  the  Long  Parliament,  — and  through 
Yane  he  came  to  know  Oliver  Cromwell.  The 
affairs  of  the  colonies  were  in  charge  of  a Parlia- 
mentary board  at  the  head  of  which  was  Robert, 


34 


RHODE  ISLAND 


Earl  of  Warwick.  To  this  board  application  was 
made  by  Williams  for  a patent  of  incorporation  for 
the  Narragansett  settlements  — Providence,  Ports- 
mouth, and  Newport ; and  on  March  14,  1644, 
there  was  issued  a patent  under  the  appropriate 
seals.  The  instrument  empowered  the  inhabitants 
of  the  settlements  in  question  to  “ govern  and  rule 
themselves  by  such  a form  of  civil  government  as 
by  voluntary  consent  of  all,  or  the  greater  part  of 
them,  they  should  find  most  serviceable  ; . . . the 
laws  ...  of  the  said  plantation  to  be  conformable 
to  the  laws  of  England,  so  far  as  the  nature  and 
constitution  of  the  place  would  admit.” 

Seemingly  all  was  well.  But  since  1641  there 
had  been  sojourning  in  London  two  ardent  repre- 
sentatives of  Massachusetts  — the  Rev.  Thomas 
Welde  and  the  Rev.  Hugh  Peters.  Hearing  of  the 
mission  of  Williams  in  quest  of  a patent,  they  early 
had  taken  measures  to  thwart  it.  By  dint  of  con- 
triving, they,  on  December  10,  1643,  had  obtained 
(under  the  signatures  of  nine  members  of  the  colo- 
nial board  — one  member  less  than  a majority)  a 
patent  whereby  there  was  added  to  the  bounds  and 
limits  of  Massachusetts  the  “tract  of  land  . . . called 
the  Narragansett  Bay  in  America.”  The  Narragan- 
sett Patent,  as  it  was  designated,  was  sent  to  Bos- 
ton in  1645,  and  there  made  the  basis  of  a claim 
to  the  whole  of  the  unoccupied  part  of  the  Narra- 
gansett region  ; but  the  insufficiency  of  the  instru- 
ment was  too  obvious  to  admit  of  much  parleying, 


THE  AGE  OF  ROGER  WILLIAMS 


35 


and  the  claim  under  it  was  unsuccessful.  One  fact 
it  made  manifest;  namely,  that  Roger  Williams  had 
come  to  England  none  too  soon. 

With  his  own  patent  in  possession,  Williams  re- 
turned to  Providence  in  September,  1644,  and  his 
coming  was  made  the  occasion  of  a demonstration 
at  Seekonk.  He  was  met  by  a small  flotilla  of 
canoes,  and  triumphantly  escorted  home.  But  those 
who  escorted  him  were  all  from  Providence.  None 
from  the  island  participated  in  the  act  of  welcome. 
Williams  had  been  sent  abroad  to  procure  a patent 
for  Aquidneck.  It  is  not  recorded  that  the  people 
of  Providence  had  even  expressed  a wish  for  a 
patent.  When,  therefore,  the  agent  for  the  island 
returned  bearing  a patent  which  not  only  coupled 
Aquidneck  with  Providence,  but  bestowed  upon  the 
infelicitous  combination  the  name  “ Providence 
Plantations,”  Coddington  and  his  friends  were 
little  pleased.  They  exhibited  their  chagrin  by 
postponing  to  the  latest  practicable  moment  re- 
cognition of  validity  in  the  instrument  which  had 
been  secured.  So  far  did  they  carry  resentment 
that  upon  learning,  just  before  Williams’s  arrival,  of 
the  step  which  he  had  taken,  they  hastened  to  apply 
to  the  New  England  Confederation  to  be  received 
into  alliance.  “ I desire,”  wrote  Coddington  to 
Winthrop  on  August  5, 1644,  “to  have  either  such 
alliance  with  yourselves  or  Plymouth,  one  or  both 
as  might  be  safe  for  us  all.”  To  this  intimation 
the  confederation  replied  declining  an  alliance,  but 


36 


RHODE  ISLAND 


counseling  subjection  ; and  here  for  a season  the 
matter  dropped. 

Although  Coddington  and  his  friends  were  loath 
to  accept  the  Roger  Williams  patent,  there  were 
others  upon  the  island  who  deemed  acceptance  the 
wiser  course,  and  on  May  19,  1647,  a general 
convention  was  held  at  Portsmouth  to  organize  for 
Providence  Plantations  a government.  In  this  con- 
vention Providence  was  represented  by  ten  dele- 
gates, but  in  the  main  the  convention  was  probably 
a Landsgemeinde  or  popular  gathering  of  free- 
holders. A year  later  the  freeholders  met  again, 
this  time  at  Providence ; and  in  1649  and  1650 
further  meetings  were  held.  In  October,  1650,  the 
Landsgemeinde  was  superseded  by  a court  of  repre- 
sentatives. 

The  work  of  the  several  conventions  consisted  in 
creating  a government,  legislative,  executive,  and 
judicial,  and  in  adopting  a code  of  laws.  Legisla- 
tive power  was  vested  in  the  freeholders  through 
a committee  of  six  from  each  town,  called  the 
General  Court.  A measure  might  originate  with 
a single  town  or  with  the  General  Court,  but  was 
only  to  become  a law  upon  adoption  by  “ the  Major 
parte  of  the  Colonie.”  In  1650  this  device  was  so 
far  modified  that  the  General  Court  was  given 
“ the  full  power  of  the  General  Assemblie  ” or  free- 
men, but  must  submit  its  acts  to  the  freemen  for 
possible  rejection.  In  its  modified  form  the  device 
was  that  of  the  Swiss  Referendum.  Executive 


THE  AGE  OF  ROGER  WILLIAMS 


37 


functions  were  made  to  devolve  chiefly  on  the  pre- 
siding officer  of  the  General  Court,  called  16  the 
President.”  The  president  was  to  be  aided  by  four 
assistants,  one  from  each  town ; and  besides  these 
officers  there  were  to  be  a treasurer,  a sergeant,  a 
general  recorder,  an  attorney-general,  and  a solicit- 
or-general. A “ Generali  Courte  of  Tryalls,”  com- 
posed of  the  president  and  assistants,  was  instituted. 
It  was  to  exercise  original  jurisdiction  in  graver 
criminal  cases  and  in  cases  arising  between  town 
and  town,  between  residents  of  different  towns, 
or  between  a town  and  a resident  of  a neighbor- 
ing colony.  Likewise  there  was  instituted  trial  by 
jury.  The  code  of  laws  which  was  adopted  (the 
Code  of  1647)  is  noteworthy  in  a high  degree.  By 
it  the  death  penalty  was  limited  to  a few  heinous 
offenses;  banishment  and  imprisonment  for  debt 
were  repudiated ; divorce  might  be  granted  only 
for  adultery ; and  the  maritime  code,  “ the  Lawes 
of  Oleron,”  was  declared  in  force. 

The  Code  of  1647  was  the  work  of  the  people 
of  Aquidneck.  It  embodied  their  organizing  and 
systematizing  spirit  and  thus  wrought  for  collectiv- 
ism. But  in  its  framing  there  were  not  overlooked 
the  claims  of  particularism.  Providence,  in  com- 
missioning its  ten  delegates  to  the  Portsmouth 
convention,  had  been  at  pains  to  instruct  them  to 
make  known  its  wish  “ to  have  full  power  and  au- 
thorise to  transacte  all  [its]  home  affaires,”  and 
the  wish  was  both  made  known  and  regarded.  A 


38 


RHODE  ISLAND 


bill  of  rights,  containing  the  familiar  provisions  of 
Magna  Charta  in  defense  of  personal  liberty,  was 
passed.  In  the  sessions  of  the  Court  of  Trials  the 
magistrates  of  the  town  where  the  court  was  held 
were  empowered  to  sit  with  the  general  magistrates 
for  “ councile  and  helpe.”  The  court,  furthermore, 
was  to  sit  permanently  in  no  one  town,  but,  as  also 
(after  1652)  the  General  Assembly,  was  to  make 
the  circuit  of  the  towns,  beginning  with  Newport. 
Warwick,  which  had  not  been  named  in  the  patent, 
was  accorded  the  privileges  of  the  other  towns ; 
and  in  order  that  the  one  underlying  principle  in 
which  Providence,  Portsmouth,  Newport,  and  War- 
wick were  agreed  — the  supreme  raison  d'etre  for 
their  several  and  collective  existence  — might  be 
duly  emphasized,  the  Code  of  1647  was  drawn  to 
a conclusion  thus : “ Otherwise  than  what  is  . . . 
herein  forbidden,  all  men  may  walk  as  their  con- 
sciences persuade  them,  everyone  in  the  name  of 
his  God.” 

The  first  president  of  Providence  Plantations 
was  a Newport  man,  John  Coggeshall ; but  upon 
the  island  William  Coddington  had  been  almost 
continuously  chief  magistrate,  and  in  May,  1648, 
he  was  chosen  president.  He  however  did  not  come 
forward  to  accept  the  office.  He  was  too  busily  en- 
gaged in  intriguing  for  the  admission  of  Aquidneck 
into  the  New  England  Confederation.  Indeed,  in 
September,  1648,  he  and  a few  others  formally 
petitioned  the  confederation  to  be  received  in  “a 


THE  AGE  OF  ROGER  WILLIAMS  39 

firme  and  perpetuall  League  of  friendship.”  The 
petition  was  rejected,  and  in  October  Coddington, 
accompanied  by  his  daughter,  set  sail  for  England 
to  make  trial  what  he  himself  might  be  able  to  do 
toward  obtaining  for  the  island  that  autonomy 
which  it  had  failed  to  receive  at  the  hands  of 
Roger  Williams.  In  London  Coddington  met  Sir 
Henry  Vane  and  Hugh  Peters.  The  latter  had 
become  a preacher  to  the  Council  of  State,  and 
through  his  aid,  perchance,  the  Aquidneck  magnate 
gained  an  introduction  to  the  council  itself.  At  all 
events,  he  laid  before  that  body  a petition  in  which 
he  described  himself  as  the  “ discoverer  and  owner  ” 
of  the  islands  of  Aquidneck  and  Conanicut  in 
Narragansett  Bay,  and  asked  to  be  confirmed  in 
his  title  to  these  islands  and  to  be  made  governor 
over  them.  The  petition  was  referred  in  March, 
1651,  and,  despite  protests  from  Edward  Winslow 
in  behalf  of  Plymouth,  was  so  speedily  acted  upon 
that  by  April  3 Coddington  found  himself  ap- 
pointed governor  of  the  two  islands  for  life  — a 
veritable  king  in  miniature,  with  power  to  select  a 
council  of  six,  to  administer  law,  and  to  raise  forces 
for  defence. 

Short  lived  was  his  glory.  In  August,  1651,  he 
reached  home.  Meetings  forthwith  were  held  at 
Newport,  Providence,  and  Portsmouth.  On  every 
hand  there  was  shown  a determination  to  secure  a 
revocation  of  the  new  and  revolutionary  patent. 
Accordingly,  in  November,  Roger  Williams  for 


40 


RHODE  ISLAND 


the  mainland  and  John  Clarke  for  the  island  were 
on  their  way  to  the  mother  country.  There  they 
met  Vane  and  Cromwell,  and  on  October  2, 1652, 
an  order  was  obtained  directing  that  Providence 
Plantations  continue  under  the  government  au- 
thorized in  the  Roger  Williams  patent  until  further 
commanded. 

Roger  Williams  returned  from  England  in  1654 ; 
but  although  news  of  the  revocation  of  the  Cod- 
dington  patent  had  been  received  in  the  Plan- 
tations in  February,  1653,  the  mainland  and  the 
island  were  found  still  to  be  maintaining  a divided 
existence.  Samuel  Gorton  had  filled  for  one  year 
the  office  of  president  of  the  mainland  towns,  and 
in  1652  a law  had  been  enacted  by  these  towns,  pro- 
viding that  “ whereas  there  is  a common  course 
practiced  amongst  Englishmen  to  buy  negers  that 
they  may  have  them  for  service  or  slaves  forever,” 
it  be  ordered  that  “ no  black  mankind,  or  white,” 
may  be  forced  to  serve  any  man  or  his  assigns 
longer  than  ten  years.  On  the  island  Coddington 
had  been  met  by  armed  resistance,  and,  forced  to 
seek  safety  in  flight,  had  in  April,  1652,  at  Boston, 
signed  a disavowal  of  exclusive  personal  proprietor- 
ship of  the  island  lands.  In  1653,  the  island,  anti- 
cipating a future  source  of  wealth  and  power,  had 
commissioned  privateers  in  the  war  then  in  pro- 
gress between  England  and  Holland. 

It  remained  for  Wrilliams,  by  virtue  of  a severe 
arraignment  of  the  colony  under  the  hand  of  Sir 


THE  AGE  OF  ROGER  WILLIAMS  41 

Henry  Vane,  and  by  virtue  of  an  eloquent  and 
moving  appeal  under  his  own  hand,  to  effect  a 
reunion  of  the  island  with  the  mainland.  Formal 
articles  of  agreement  were  ratified  on  August  31, 
1654,  and  on  September  12  Roger  Williams  was 
elected  president  of  the  rehabilitated  common- 
wealth. As  for  William  Coddington,  his  last  hope 
was  extinguished  when,  in  March,  1655,  Oliver 
Cromwell,  now  Lord  Protector,  wrote  that  the  col- 
ony were  to  proceed  in  their  government  “ accord- 
ing to  ye  tenor  of  their  charter  formerly  granted.” 
A year  later  the  Newport  magnate  put  his  hand 
to  the  declaration : “ I William  Coddington,  doe 
freely  submit  to  ye  authoritie  of  his  Highness  in 
this  Colonie,  as  it  is  now  united,  and  that  with  all 
my  heart.” 

The  struggle  against  collectivism,  by  which  the 
first  period  of  Rhode  Island  history  is  character- 
ized, was  a struggle  not  confined  to  bodies  politic 
such  as  the  mainland  and  island.  It  extended  to 
religious  sects.  Providence  from  the  first  had  been 
Anabaptist.  At  Newport  the  original  Antinomian- 
ism  had  gradually  been  tending  to  Anabaptism 
and  Quietism.  Upon  removing  to  Aquidneck,  Anne 
Hutchinson  had  become  Anabaptist;  so  much  so 
that,  impelled  by  distrust  of  the  collectivistic  spirit 
of  Coddington  with  its  longing  after  the  United 
Colonies,  she,  in  1642  or  1643,  had  removed  to 
East  Chester,  New  York,  where  she  and  all  her 
family,  save  one,  had  fallen  a prey  to  the  Indians. 


42 


KHODE  ISLAND 


In  Koger  Williams  Anabaptism  bad,  in  1639 
or  1640,  become  Seekerism,  the  ne  plus  ultra  of 
religious  individualism  ; and  in  William  Harris 
secularism  (by  reason  of  the  poverty  of  the  man 
— land  was  an  inconvertible  asset)  had  become  a 
kind  of  anarchism.  In  1657,  during  the  presidency 
of  Williams,  Harris,  because  of  his  advocacy  of 
the  doctrine  that  “ he  that  can  say  it  is  his  con- 
science ought  not  to  yield  subjection  to  any  human 
order  amongst  men,”  was  arrested  and  tried  for 
high  treason.  By  1651  Anabaptism  on  the  island 
was  grown  distinctively  aggressive.  In  July  three 
Anabaptists  — John  Clarke,  Obadiah  Holmes,  and 
John  Crandall  — boldly  ventured  into  Massachu- 
setts with  their  practices.  They  were  seized,  and 
one  of  them  (Holmes)  was  scourged  for  his  temerity 
with  a three-thonged  lash. 

To  Anabaptist  aggressiveness  there  succeeded 
the  more  intense  aggressiveness  of  the  Quakers. 
The  sect  began  coming  to  Boston  from  England 
in  1656.  Driven  from  that  town  by  stripes,  they 
were  received  at  Newport.  In  September,  1657, 
the  New  England  Confederation  upbraided  Provi- 
dence Plantations  for  its  course.  At  this  time 
Benedict  Arnold  was  president,  and  his  reply  was  : 
“We  have  no  law  whereby  to  punish  any  for  only 
declaring  by  words  their  minds  and  understandings 
concerning  the  things  and  ways  of  God  as  to  Sal- 
vation and  an  eternal  condition.”  Between  1656 
and  1660  many  were  the  Quakers  that  from  the 


THE  AGE  OF  ROGER  WILLIAMS  43 

convenient  harborage  of  Aquidneck  essayed  the 
wrath  of  the  Bay  and  of  its  high  priest  of  persecu- 
tion, John  Endicott.  Among  them  were  Mary 
Clarke,  Christopher  Holder,  John  Copeland,  Wil- 
liam Brend,  William  Robinson,  and  Marmaduke 
Stevenson;  but  the  most  noteworthy  of  them  all 
was  Mary  Dyer.  She  was  wife  to  the  secretary 
of  the  colony,  William  Dyer,  and  though  sweet  of 
disposition,  had,  under  Anne  Hutchinson,  her  pre- 
ceptress, become  so  infatuated  an  individualist,  so 
relentless  a challenger  of  theocratic  pretensions, 
that  she  can  hardly  be  regarded  as  possessed  of 
perfect  mental  balance.  By  reiterated  baitings  of 
Endicott  she  provoked  her  own  death,  and  on  June 
1,  1660,  was  hanged  on  Boston  Common. 

Rhode  Island  and  Providence  Plantations  — The 
Charter  of  1663 

On  March  13,  1644,  the  General  Court  of 
Aquidneck  changed  the  name  of  that  island  to 
the  “ Isle  of  Rhodes  or  Rhode  Island.”  No  little 
discussion  has  from  time  to  time  been  occasioned 
by  surmises  as  to  the  origin  of  the  name ; but 
Roger  Williams,  writing  in  1666,  remarked  that 
“Rhode  Island,  like  the  Isle  of  Rhodes,  in  the 
Greek  language  is  an  island  of  Roses  ; ” and  deri- 
vation more  authoritative  we  perhaps  shall  not  be 
able  to  discover.1  At  all  events,  in  1663,  when 

1 In  the  English  Historical  Review  for  October,  1903,  Mr.  Louis 
Dyer,  of  Oxford,  England,  advances  the  theory  that  the  name 


44 


RHODE  ISLAND 


John  Clarke  was  negotiating  with  the  restored 
monarch  Charles  II  for  a royal  charter  for  the 
Xarragansett  Bay  colony,  he  was  careful  to  repay 
Williams  for  his  assumption  (in  the  Patent  of 
1644)  of  the  name  “ Providence  Plantations  ” by 
placing  before  the  latter,  in  the  new  instrument, 
the  name  *4  Rhode  Island.” 

The  restoration  of  Charles,  which  took  place  in 
1660,  was  for  the  Xarragansett  Bay  settlements 
an  event  of  the  first  importance.  Xow  that  the 
king  was  on  his  throne,  the  question  arose.  What 
validity  has  the  Patent  of  1644  ? It  was  felt  that 
measures  to  secure  a royal  charter  should  be  taken 
without  delay.  John  Clarke  was  in  England,  where 
he  had  lingered  on  private  business  after  the  re- 
turn of  Roger  Williams  in  1654,  and  to  him  in 
1661  there  was  sent  a commission  as  agent  for  the 
colony  in  its  new  undertaking.  Clarke  set  earnestly 
to  work,  and  on  July  8, 1663,  the  charter  was  issued. 
It  was  conveyed  to  the  Plantations  by  Captain 
George  Baxter,  and  on  Xovember  24  the  freemen 
assembled  at  Xewport  to  inspect  the  instrument 
and  to  hear  it  read.  It  was  taken  by  Baxter  from 

“ Rhode  Island  ” is  merely  a translation  of  the  Indian  name  for 
the  island  of  Rhode  Island  — Aquidneck.  "Aquidneck.”  observes 
Mr.  Dyer,  “the  island  in  the  bay.  ■was  englished  into  Road  or 
Roads  Island.  The  prevalence  in  the  early  texts  of  the  spelling 
Road  goes  to  confirm  this  account  of  the  matter.  . . * Roade 
Island  is'  (ve  read  in  a document  dated  in  1661  [Richman's 
Rhode  Island . vol.  ii,  p.  239])  * a road,  refuge,  asylum,  to  evil 
livers.'  ” From  the  above  Mr.  S.  S.  Rider  strongly  dissents  in 
Book  Notes,  vol.  xx. 


THE  AGE  OF  ROGER  WILLIAMS 


45 


its  box,  and  by  him  “ with  much  becoming  gravity 
held  up  on  hygh  to  the  perfect  view  of  the  peo- 
ple.” It  then  was  read  aloud  and  returned  for  safe 
keeping  to  its  receptacle.  The  alterations  which  it 
effected  in  the  existing  constitution  were  not  funda- 
mental. Boundaries  were  made  more  certain ; Free- 
dom of  Conscience  was  elaborately  confirmed  ; the 
president  was  superseded  by  a governor  and  deputy- 
governor  ; the  assistants  were  increased  from  four 
to  ten ; the  General  Assembly  was  made  to  consist 
in  the  governor  (or  deputy -governor),  the  assist- 
ants, and  a body  of  deputies  to  be  chosen,  six  from 
Newport,  four  each  from  Providence,  Portsmouth, 
and  W arwick,  and  two  each  from  all  other  towns  ; 
the  courts  were  left  much  as  before,  but  the  Court 
of  Trials  was  made  a fixture  at  Newport. 

In  obtaining  for  their  government  and  jurisdic- 
tion the  sanction  of  a charter  from  the  king,  it  was 
hoped  by  Rhode  Islanders  to  insure  for  themselves 
the  toleration  and,  perchance,  respect  of  their 
neighbors  on  the  east  and  on  the  west.  But  so  it 
did  not  turn  outr  By  both  Massachusetts  and  Con- 
necticut the  charter  was  deemed  a sword  rather 
than  an  olive  branch.  Since  the  acts  of  subjection 
on  the  part  of  the  Arnolds,  and  of  Pumham  and 
Sacononoco,  the  Bay  and  Plymouth  (one  or  both) 
had  asserted  a claim  to  eastern  Rhode  Island, 
including  the  island  of  Aquidneck.  These  claims 
were  practically  disallowed  in  1665,  when  commis- 
sioners of  the  king  fixed  the  eastern  littoral  of  Nar- 


46 


RHODE  ISLAND 


ragansett  Bay  as  the  western  limit  of  any  possible 
claim  by  Plymouth;  and  the  whole  question  was 
settled  in  1746-47,  when,  by  a final  decision  of  the 
crown,  Massachusetts  (the  heir  in  1691  to  Plymouth 
territory)  was  obliged  under  the  charter  to  sur- 
render to  Rhode  Island  the  border  towns  of  Cum- 
berland, TVarren,  Bristol,  Tiverton,  and  Little 
Compton. 

But  it  was  with  Connecticut  that  the  principal 
difficulty  was  encountered.  On  the  return  of  the 
Gortonists  from  Boston  in  1644,  they  found  a tem- 
porary asylum  at  Portsmouth.  Thence  Samuel 
Gorton  was  summoned  by  Canonicus  to  an  impor- 
tant conference.  The  Narragansett  Indians,  observ- 
ing that  the  Gortonists  had  been  liberated  by  the 
Puritans,  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  former 
must  be  identified  with  the  stronger  party  in  Eng- 
land (where  war  was  known  to  be  in  progress),  and 
the  Puritans  with  the  weaker.  They  therefore,  as 
against  the  weak  Puritans  (by  whom  Miantonomi 
had  been  put  to  death),  decided  to  espouse  the  cause 
of  the  strong  Gortonists,  and  desired  of  Gorton  that 
he  would  make  record  of  a formal  act  of  subjection 
by  them  to  the  English  sachem.  The  record  was 
duly  made  on  April  19,  and  in  December  Samuel 
Gorton,  together  with  Randall  Holden,  was  on  his 
way  with  the  document  to  the  shores  of  a distracted 
realm. 

During  the  period  of  the  English  Commonwealth 
the  act  of  subjection  by  the  Narragansetts  to  the 


THE  AGE  OF  ROGER  WILLIAMS 


47 


king  was  of  course  entirely  void  of  effect.  Oppres- 
sion on  the  Indians  by  the  Puritans  increased  rather 
than  diminished. 

The  territory  chiefly  occupied  by  the  Narragan- 
sett  nation  was  that  part  of  the  present  State  of 
Rhode  Island  south  of  the  south  line  of  Warwick 
and  Coventry.  It  was  a region  of  stony  soil,  but 
its  lagoons  and  streams  were  well  supplied  with 
fish.  As  early  as  1640  or  1641  Richard  Smith,  a 
Gloucestershire  man,  had  built  a trading  house  at 
Cawcamsqussick  (Wickford)  : and  in  1645  or  1647 
Roger  Williams  also  had  come  hither  to  trade.  In 
January,  1657,  the  easterly  part  of  so  much  of  the 
present  town  of  South  Kingstown  as  lies  west  of 
Boston  and  Point  Judith  Necks  was  purchased 
from  the  Indians  by  a company  of  Newporters 
called  the  Pettiquamscutt  Company ; and  in  J une, 
1660,  a further  company  of  Newport  men  purchased 
Misquamicutt  (Westerly).  The  purchase  by  the 
Pettiquamscutt  Company — an  association  compris- 
ing among  its  members  one  stanch  Bostonian, 
John  Hull1  — gave  Providence  Plantations  occa- 
sion to  reflect,  and  in  1658  there  was  passed  a law 
forbidding  purchases  from  the  Indians  without 
consent  of  the  colony.  In  1661  confirmation  of  the 
Misquamicutt  purchase  was  secured  ; but  for  a pur- 
chase made  in  1659  by  a company  of  Massachusetts 

1 The  other  members  of  the  company  were  Samuel  Wilbor. 
Thomas  Mumford,  John  Porter,  and  Samuel  Wilson.  Afterwards 
Benedict  Arnold  and  William  Brenton  became  members. 


48 


RHODE  ISLAND 


men,  called  the  Atherton  Company,  confirmation 
was  not  even  asked. 

The  objects  of  the  Atherton  association  were  two- 
fold : to  obtain  a vast  tract  of  land,  and  to  place 
this  tract  under  the  jurisdiction  of  Massachusetts 
or  Connecticut.  In  the  attainment  of  their  first 
object  they  secured,  in  1659,  Indian  deeds  for 
Quidnesset  (northeasterly  North  Kingstown)  and 
Namcook  (Boston  Neck) ; and  in  1660  they  secured 
from  Ninigret,  the  Nyantic,  and  other  sachems,  an 
Indian  mortgage  upon  all  the  unoccupied  lands  of 
Narragansett.  The  mortgage  was  given  to  insure 
to  the  association  repayment  of  an  indemnity  which 
had  been  exacted  from  Ninigret  by  the  United 
Colonies,  but  which  the  association  had  artfully 
assumed.  Under  the  mortgage  (in  1662)  the  asso- 
ciation undertook  to  perfect  a title  by  foreclosure. 
The  same  year  the  second  object  of  the  Atherton 
Company  was  seemingly  effected  through  a charter 
issued  by  the  crown  to  Connecticut  for  territory 
extending  on  the  eastward  to  the  “ Narragansett 
River.” 

The  agent  principally  concerned  in  negotiating 
the  charter  for  Connecticut  was  John  Winthrop, 
Jr.,  son  of  the  early  governor  of  Massachusetts, 
and  Winthrop  had  been  made  a member  of  the 
Atherton  Company.  The  issuing  of  the  Connecti- 
cut charter  narrowed  controversy,  for  thereby 
Massachusetts,  which  had  been  claiming  a part  of 
Narragansett  as  land  conquered  from  the  Pequods, 


THE  AGE  OF  ROGER  WILLIAMS  49 

was  completely  ousted.  As  between  Connecticut 
and  Rhode  Island,  the  jurisdiction  of  the  latter 
over  Narragansett  was  at  the  last  moment  sought 
to  be  saved  by  John  Clarke  by  a stipulation, 
concluded  between  himself  and  Winthrop,  that 
wherever  in  the  Connecticut  charter  the  eastern 
boundary  of  that  colony  was  described  as  fixed  by 
the  Narragansett  River,  the  words  “Narragansett 
River  ” should  be  taken  as  signifying  Pawcatuck 
River  — the  western  limit  of  Rhode  Island  under 
the  Patent  of  1644. 

Out  of  the  Clarke-Winthrop  stipulation  there 
grew  a controversy  as  prolonged  as  it  was  bitter. 
In  1665  Sir  Robert  Carr,  Colonel  George  Cart- 
wright, and  Mr.  Samuel  Maverick,  as  commissioners 
of  the  king  for  settling  the  royal  authority  in  New 
England,  visited  Rhode  Island,  and  while  there 
they  met  in  council  the  sachems  of  the  Narragan- 
setts.  They  found  them  enraged  at  Massachusetts 
and  the  United  Colonies  because  of  the  indemnity 
mortgage  and  pretensions  of  the  Atherton  Com- 
pany. They  also  found  them  possessed  of  a lively 
recollection  of  the  submission  which,  in  1644, 
they  as  a nation  had  made  to  King  Charles  I. 
Under  these  conditions,  and  privately  instructed 
as  the  commissioners  were  by  Lord  Clarendon,  they 
annulled  the  Atherton  mortgage,  and  placed  the 
Narragansett  country  (entitled  the  King’s  Pro- 
vince) under  the  administrative  authority  of  Rhode 
Island.  This  act,  however,  by  no  means  put  an 


50 


RHODE  ISLAND 


end  to  the  claims  of  Connecticut.  These  claims 
were  asserted  and  reasserted.  Sustained  in  1683 
by  a royal  commission  headed  by  Edward  Cran- 
•field,  they  were  rejected  in  1687  by  Sir  Edmund 
Andros.  Sustained  again,  in  1696,  by  the  attorney- 
general  of  King  William,  they  were  yielded  vol- 
untarily in  1703  (out  of  policy)  by  Connecticut 
itself.  Revived  in  1723,  they  were  abandoned  for- 
ever in  1728.  Meanwhile,  in  1674,  Rhode  Island 
had  erected  the  Kings  Province  into  the  town  of 
Kingstown,  and  in  1677  had  detached  from  Kings- 
town the  town  of  East  Greenwich. 

The  men  to  whom  the  preservation  of  Narra- 
gansett  to  Rhode  Island  is  mainly  to  be  ascribed 
were  Samuel  Gorton,  Randall  Holden,  and  the 
John  Greenes,  father  and  son.  Gorton  and  Hol- 
t den,  as  a result  of  their  journey  to  England  in 
1644  with  the  sachems’  deed,  obtained  an  order 
permitting  the  reoccupation  of  Shawomet  (War- 
wick). Afterwards  (1660)  William  Harris,  whose 
appetite  for  land  was  insatiable,  had,  under  cer- 
tain deeds  from  the  Indians  (called  “confirmation 
deeds  ”),  obtained  color  of  title  to  a wide  area  for 
the  Providence  town  fellowship  and  the  Pawtuxet 
proprietors.  Some  of  the  Pawtuxet  land  (under 
the  “ confirmation  deeds  ”)  extended  south  of  the 
north  line  of  Warwick,  and  this  circumstance  led 
to  a union  on  the  part  of  the  Gortonists  with  Roger 
Williams  to  resist  Harris. 

In  1677  Holden  and  John  Greene,  Jr.,  visited 


THE  AGE  OF  ROGER  WILLIAMS 


51 


England,  but  gained  no  permanent  advantage.  In 
1679  Harris  set  forth  for  the  same  destination. 
He  did  so  not  merely  in  his  own  interest,  but 
as  the  authorized  agent  of  Connecticut  and  the 
Atherton  associates  to  further  their  pretensions 
to  Narragansett.  While  on  the  way  (January, 
1680)  the  ship  in  which  he  was  embarked,  the 
Unity,  was  captured  by  Algerians,  and  he  himself 
was  made  a slave  and  held  for  ransom.  Piteous 
were  the  letters  which  Harris  sent  home  to  his 
family  and  friends.  “ I pray  you  therefore,”  he 
wrote  on  April  4,  “to  stir  up  both  parties  to 
send  bills  of  the  said  sum  1191  pieces  of  eight 
and  5 royals.  If  the  sum  fail,  or  the  time,  it  is 
most  likely  to  be  my  death  ; — for  then  I fall  per- 
manently into  the  cruel  man’s  hands  that  hath 
like  to  kill  me  already.”  The  money  was  secured 
and  sent,  and  in  the  winter  of  1680-81  Harris  was 
given  his  freedom,  but  the  boon  came  too  late.  On 
reaching  London,  the  victim  of  Algerine  barbarity 
died  from  exhaustion.  Had  he  lived,  the  cause  of 
Connecticut  would  have  been  powerfully  advocated. 
That  he  did  not  live,  that  through  the  labors  and 
pains  exacted  of  him  he  perished,  is  significant  of 
the  vigor  and  pertinacity  with  which  he  was  with- 
stood. 

In  the  midst  of  the  struggle  for  Narragansett 
(indeed,  much  as  though  in  mockery  of  it),  there 
broke  forth  King  Philip’s  War.  The  conflict  was 
one  which  long  had  been  impending.  Little  by 


52 


RHODE  ISLAND 


little  the  Pokanokets  — the  people  of  the  region 
once  ruled  by  Massasoit  — had  been  crowded  to 
the  westward  and  had  grown  sullen  and  suspicious. 
Causes,  too,  in  the  case  of  the  Narragansetts  had 
been  making  for  alienation.  First  there  was  the 
execution  (never  to  be  forgotten)  of  Miantonomi. 
Next  there  was  the  fruitless  and  disappointing 
submission  and  resubmission  of  the  nation  to  the 
Stuart  kings.  It  was  the  English  of  the  United 
Colonies  that  chiefly  were  responsible  for  the  un- 
happy situation  ; but  the  time  had  at  length  come 
in  New  England  when  it  was  realized  by  the  In- 
dian that  he  and  his  white  brother  were  not  com- 
patible, could  not  dwell  together,  but  must  contend 
for  supremacy. 

The  immediate  occasion  of  hostilities  was  the 
death  of  Wamsutta  or  Alexander,  the  elder  son  of 
Massasoit.  In  1662  Alexander  had  been  arrested, 
by  order  of  the  governor  of  Plymouth,  on  suspicion 
of  conspiracy,  and  during  his  detention  had  died 
of  a fever.  It  was  thought  by  the  Indians  that  he 
had  been  poisoned.  His  successor  was  his  brother 
Meatacom  or  Philip.  It  was  resolved  by  Philip  to 
avenge  Alexander’s  death,  and  in  June,  1675,  he 
withdrew  into  the  country  of  the  Nipmucs  (central 
Massachusetts),  leaving  behind  him  a trail  of  fire 
and  blood.  At  this  time  the  war  sachem  of  the 
Narragansetts  was  Canonchet,  a son  of  Mianto- 
nomi. The  war  begun  by  Philip  was  regarded  by 
Canonchet  as  an  opportunity  to  avenge  the  death 


THE  AGE  OF  ROGER  WILLIAMS 


53 


of  his  parent,  and  he  lent  what  aid  he  could  against 
Plymouth  and  Massachusetts.  In  December  the 
three  colonies  — Plymouth,  Massachusetts,  and 
Connecticut  — invaded  the  Narragansett  country. 
Assailing  the  Indians  in  their  stronghold  or  forti- 
fied village,  they  inflicted  upon  them  a crushing 
defeat.  Early  in  1676  the  dispersed  Narragansetts 
burned  Warwick  and  a portion  of  Providence. 
In  their  advance  on  Providence  they  destroyed 
“Study  Hill”  in  Cumberland,  the  abode  of  Wil- 
liam Blackstone,  an  eccentric  recluse  of  the  Church 
of  England  and  friend  of  Roger  Williams.  As  for 
Williams  himself,  it  is  the  tradition  that  on  the 
approach  of  the  savages  he  fearlessly  met  them, 
staff  in  hand,  and  sought  to  dissuade  them  from 
further  acts  of  devastation,  but  in  vain. 

In  April  Canonchet  was  captured  and  put  to 
death.  His  executioner,  strangely  enough,  was 
Oneko,  son  of  Uncas,  the  destroyer  of  Miantonomi. 
The  final  event  in  King  Philip’s  War  was  the  killing 
of  Philip  himself  by  a force  under  Captain  Benja- 
min Church  of  Plymouth.  Driven  from  point  to 
point,  Philip,  in  June,  concealed  himself  in  a swamp 
at  the  foot  of  his  ancient  fastness  of  Mount  Hope. 
Church  was  told  of  his  whereabouts,  and,  secretly 
investing  the  spot  at  night,  startled  his  prey.  The 
entrapped  sachem  made  a bold  dash  for  liberty, 
but  was  shot  through  the  heart  by  one  of  Church’s 
men,  and  fell  headlong  in  the  mud  and  water.1 

1 King  Philip’s  War  left  the  Narragansett  Indians  much  reduced 


54 


RHODE  ISLAND 


Rhode  Island  as  a colony  took  little  part  in 
King  Philip’s  War.  The  cause  was  the  dominance 
of  the  Quakers.  Antinomianism  on  Aquidneck 
had  now  been  merged  in  Quakerism.  The  early 
families  — the  Coddingtons,  the  Eastons,  the 
Clarkes,  the  Bulls  — nearly  all  had  become  Quak- 
ers. In  1672  George  Fox  himself  had  visited  New- 
port, and  his  presence  had  been  made  by  Roger 
Williams  (who  still  was  enough  of  a Puritan  to 

and  dispersed.  By  1707  Ninigret  (the  head  of  the  tributary  Ny- 
antics)  was  the  only  sachem  of  Narragansett  affiliations  with 
whom  the  Rhode  Island  government  could  treat.  With  him,  ac- 
cordingly, on  March  28,  1709,  an  agreement  was  made  by  which 
all  of  the  vacant  Narragansett  territory  (the  region  which  had 
been  sought  to  be  appropriated  by  the  Atherton  Company)  was 
conveyed  to  the  colony,  except  a tract  eight  miles  square  in 
Charlestown,  which  was  kept  as  an  Indian  reservation.  In  1713 
an  act  was  passed  by  the  General  Assembly  inhibiting  sales 
within  the  reservation  save  by  consent  of  the  colony.  In  1759 
the  inhibition  was  removed.  In  1763  various  members  of  the 
Narragansett  nation  made  complaint  that,  through  the  removal 
of  the  inhibition,  their  sachem  (Thomas  Ninigret)  was  rapidly 
dispossessing  the  nation  of  all  its  lands.  The  colony  therefore  in- 
terposed, but  the  alienation  of  lands  (especially  upon  long  leases) 
was  not  much  checked,  and  in  1792  a committee  was  appointed 
to  establish  regulations.  By  1791  the  whole  number  of  Narra- 
gansetts  in  Charlestown  had  dwindled  to  two  hundred  and  fifty, 
and  by  1833  to  one  hundred  and  ninety-nine,  of  whom  only  seven 
were  of  the  genuine  blood.  In  1880  the  tribal  relations  of  the 
Narragansett  nation  were  abolished  and  rights  of  citizenship  were 
conferred  upon  the  members.  — Opinion  of  the  Justices  of  the  R.  I. 
Supreme  Court  relative  to  the  Narragansetts,  January,  1898.  A 
Statement  of  the  Case  of  the  Narragansett  Tribe  of  Indians  as  shown 
by  the  Manuscript  Collection  of  Sir  William  Johnson , compiled  by 
James  N.  Arnold,  1896. 


THE  AGE  OF  ROGER  WILLIAMS 


oo 


detest  the  heresy  of  the  “ inner  light  ”)  occasion 
for  a challenge  to  public  debate.  Fox  had  departed 
before  the  challenge  could  be  delivered  to  him,  but 
it  had  been  accepted  by  his  associates,  John  Burn- 
yeat,  John  Stubbs,  and  William  Edmundson.  On 
August  9 a tumultuous  controversy  — one  which 
Williams  had  come  all  the  way  from  Providence 
in  an  open  boat  to  conduct  — had  been  held  in  the 
Newport  Quaker  meeting-house. 

By  the  Charter  of  1663  there  was  imparted  to 
Rhode  Island,  despite  the  machinations  of  Massa- 
chusetts and  Connecticut,  stability  both  territorial 
and  administrative.  Under  the  instrument,  collec- 
tivism gained  over  separatism.  The  several  towns 
were  reduced  in  their  privileges,  and  the  colony 
became  for  the  first  time  an  entity.  So  far  did 
the  process  of  integration  extend  that  Block  Island 
(which  down  to  1662  had  been  an  appanage  of 
Massachusetts)  was  in  1664  incorporated  with 
Rhode  Island,  and  in  1672  erected  into  the  politi- 
cal division  New  Shoreham. 

4.  Sir  Edmund  Andros  and  the  Quo  Warranto. 

At  the  end  of  the  seventeen  years  during  which 
England  had  been  ruled  by  Parliament  or  by 
Cromwell,  the  American  colonies  — particularly 
Massachusetts  — had  grown  well-nigh  independent 
and  had  developed  a considerable  commerce.  They 
had  traded  without  hindrance  with  the  friends  and 
enemies  of  the  mother  country ; with  the  Dutch 


56 


RHODE  ISLAND 


more  especially ; and  their  freedom  (in  words  at- 
tributable to  Roger  Williams)  had  perhaps  been 
for  them  “ a sweete  cup,”  rendering  them  “ wan- 
ton and  too  active.”  Now  that  the  monarchy  was 
restored,  it  became  the  royal  policy  — a policy 
inaugurated  by  Clarendon  — to  curb  colonial  pre- 
tensions. 

The  curbing  was  to  be  in  two  directions  : in  that 
of  Puritan  religious  intolerance  and  in  that  of  dis- 
regard of  the  acts  of  Revenue  and  Navigation.  So 
far  as  Massachusetts  was  concerned,  the  king’s 
commissioners  had  in  1664  endeavored  to  change 
the  basis  of  the  suffrage  from  church  membership 
to  property,  and  to  secure  recognition  for  the  book 
of  common  prayer,  and  of  a right  in  the  crown  to 
try  revenue  cases  ; but  with  little  result  other  than 
to  provoke  hostile  demonstrations.  In  Rhode 
Island  there  of  course  was  no  religious  intolerance, 
and  the  colony  possessed  little  commerce ; so  the 
crown  was  content  with  the  situation.  Nor  perhaps 
would  a different  feeling  have  arisen  had  it  not 
been  for  the  renewal  of  difficulties  with  the  Neth- 
erlands. But  difficulties  were  renewed  ; and  when, 
in  1674,  peace  at  length  was  declared,  the  exas- 
peration of  the  English  crown  and  merchants  at  the 
disloyal  trading  spirit  of  the  colonies,  which  had 
dwelt  on  gain  while  Monk  struggled  in  the  Channel 
with  De  Ruyter,  was  intense. 

The  revenue  acts,  breach  of  which  had  been 
complained  of  by  the  commissioners,  were  acts 


THE  AGE  OF  ROGER  WILLIAMS 


57 


passed  respectively  in  1660  and  1663  (12th  and 
15th  of  Charles  II)  ; and  they  so  far  restricted 
colonial  trade  as  to  prohibit,  with  slight  exception, 
the  direct  importation  of  European  commodities 
into  the  colonies.  Such  commodities  must  be  carried 
thither  by  way  of  England.  The  acts  in  reality 
imposed  no  particular  hardship  on  the  colonies,  for 
England  was  for  most  things  the  best  purchasing 
market  in  any  event.  Indeed,  in  one  important 
respect  the  acts  were  positively  beneficial.  Under 
them  trade  with  the  colonies  might  be  conducted 
only  in  English  built  or  British  colonial  built 
ships,  and  for  the  building  of  such  ships  the  colo- 
nies themselves  (especially  in  New  England)  were 
well  adapted.  More  than  aught  else,  therefore, 
breach  of  the  acts  was  an  expression  of  resentment 
on  the  part  of  colonial  importers  and  shippers  at 
being  required  to  abandon  the  easy,  convenient, 
and  long  - established  practice  of  employing  the 
ubiquitous  Dutch  bottoms. 

In  1675  and  1676  the  English  merchants  — Lon- 
don silk  mercers  and  others  — petitioned  the  crown 
for  redress  against  New  England  as  the  “ mart  and 
staple  whereby  the  navigation  of  the  kingdom  is 
injured ; ” and  the  same  year  Edward  Randolph 
was  sent  over,  as  agent  for  the  Lords  of  Trade  and 
Plantations,  to  make  an  investigation.  He  visited 
several  of  the  colonies,  and  in  1678  his  position 
was  strengthened  by  an  appointment  as  collector 
and  surveyor  of  customs.  Thenceforth  his  every 


58 


RHODE  ISLAND 


effort  was  put  forth  toward  securing  what  he  knew 
the  crown  desired,  namely,  proof  of  violations  of 
law  and  privileges  on  the  part  of  the  chartered  colo- 
nies sufficient  to  justify  an  annulment  of  the  char- 
ters themselves.  As  a result  of  his  toils,  the  charter 
of  Massachusetts  was  annulled  in  1684.  In  1685 
he  was  instructed  to  “ prepare  papers  . . . upon 
which  writs  of  quo  warranto  might  be  granted 
against  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island.” 

Randolph  promptly  complied  in  a document 
which  alleged,  in  the  case  of  Rhode  Island,  that 
the  colony  disregarded  the  laws  of  England  and, 
like  Massachusetts,  “violated  the  Acts  of  Trade.” 
A writ  accordingly  was  issued,  and  in  May,  1686, 
the  collector  (who  for  a season  had  been  in  Eng- 
land) reached  America  with  it  in  his  possession. 
It  was  served  in  J une,  and  the  General  Assembly, 
loyal  to  the  last,  voted  “ not  to  stand  suit  with  his 
Majesty  but  to  proceed  by  . . . humble  address 
...  to  continue  our  humble  privileges  and  liber- 
ties according  to  our  charter.”  It  had  been  the 
plan  of  the  crown  to  unite  Massachusetts,  New 
Hampshire,  Maine,  Plymouth,  and  Narragansett 
into  a royal  province ; but  in  February,  1685, 
Charles  II  had  died,  and  under  James  II,  his 
successor,  there  was  provisionally  adopted  a 
plan  whereby  Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire,  and 
Narragansett  were  placed  under  the  government 
of  a “ President  and  Council.”  The  president 
was  Joseph  Dudley  of  Boston,  and  for  a short 


THE  AGE  OF  ROGER  WILLIAMS  59 

period  Narragansett,  which  had  been  organized  as 
Kingstown,  was  fated  to  bear  the  name  of  Roches- 
ter. 

On  June  3,  1686,  the  whole  of  New  England 
was  created  a royal  province  under  Sir  Edmund 
Andros  as  governor  in  chief,  and  the  chartered 
liberties  of  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island  seemed 
by  the  act  forever  to  be  forfeited  and  concluded. 
Late  in  the  year  Andros  made  official  announce- 
ment of  his  authority  to  receive  the  surrender  of 
the  Rhode  Island  charter,  and  in  1687,  while  on  a 
visit  to  Newport,  he  demanded  the  instrument.  It, 
however,  had  been  put  out  of  the  hands  of  Walter 
Clarke,  the  governor,  and  could  not  be  found.  In 
Rhode  Island  the  rule  of  Andros  was  little  note- 
worthy. The  General  Assembly,  taking  advantage 
of  the  separatist  spirit  still  strong  in  the  common- 
wealth, had  in  1686  sought  to  devolve  political  au- 
thority on  the  several  towns  ; had  sought,  in  other 
words,  to  meet  danger  (after  the  manner  of  some 
forms  of  crustacean  life)  by  resolving  the  threat- 
ened organism  into  its  integral  and  elemental  parts. 
How  far  the  plan  might  have  succeeded  cannot  be 
told,  for  in  April,  1689,  on  news  of  the  abdication 
of  James  II,  New  England  rose  against  Andros 
and  imprisoned  him.  In  Rhode  Island  government 
was  reestablished  under  the  charter  in  February, 
1690,  with  Henry  Bull  as  governor  ; and  in  1693 
(December  7)  the  attorney-general  of  the  crown 
rendered  a formal  opinion  that  in  point  of  law 


60 


RHODE  ISLAND 


nothing  stood  in  the  way  of  a confirmation  of  the 
charter  by  William  and  Mary. 

With  the  flight  of  J ames  from  Whitehall  the 
age  of  Roger  Williams  comes  fully  and  finally  to 
a close.  Since  1643,  the  year  of  the  founding  of 
Warwick,  the  four  geographical  points  — Provi- 
dence, Portsmouth,  Newport,  and  Warwick  — had 
grown  slowly.  At  Providence  and  Warwick  the 
people  still  pastured  their  cattle  and  horses,  and 
turned  loose  their  depredating  swine.  Rarely  did 
they  get  news  of  the  outside  world,  and  none  of 
them,  save  William  Harris,  achieved  anything  like 
the  position  of  a magnate.  At  Newport  sheep  and 
horses  were  bred,  and  men  such  as  William  Cod- 
dington,  William  Brenton,  Nicholas  Easton,  and 
Henry  Bull,  identified  themselves  with  picturesque 
estates  which,  in  “ Coddington  Cove,”  “ Brenton’s 
Neck,”  “ Easton’s  Beach,”  and  “ Bull’s  Point,” 
have  perpetuated  their  names.  By  1686  the  popu- 
lation of  the  island  was  perhaps  twenty-five  hun- 
dred. That  of  Providence  was  perhaps  six  hundred, 
and  that  of  Portsmouth  and  Warwick  together, 
perhaps  eight  or  nine  hundred. 

As  contrasted  with  each  other,  the  island  was 
refined,  flourishing,  aristocratic,  while  the  main- 
land was  primitive,  poor,  and  plebeian.  Yet  despite 
the  limitations  of  an  agricultural  existence  — an 
existence  ameliorated  at  Newport  after  1660  by 
intimations  of  commerce  — the  age  of  Roger  Wil- 


THE  AGE  OF  ROGER  WILLIAMS  61 

liams  in  Rhode  Island  was  a great  age.  For  the 
first  time  in  human  history  State  had  wholly  been 
dissociated  from  Church  in  a commonwealth  not 
utopian  but  real.  For  the  first  time  the  funda- 
mental idea  of  modern  civilization  — that  of  rights 
of  man  as  a being  responsible  primarily  to  God 
and  not  to  the  community  — had  been  given  an 
impulse  powerful  and  direct. 

As  for  the  six  historical  personalities  about 
whom  the  age  centred,  all  now  were  dead.  Anne 
Hutchinson,  the  vindicator  of  faith  against  works, 
had  died  in  1643.  John  Clarke,  the  procurer  of 
the  Charter  of  1663,  had  died  in  1676.  Samuel 
Gorton,  the  founder  of  Warwick  and  defender  of 
Narragansett,  had  died  in  1677.  William  Codding- 
ton,  the  first  Newport  magnate,  had  died  in  1678. 
William  Harris  — more  even  than  Coddington  the 
Mammon  of  the  group  — had  died  in  1681.  The 
last  to  pass  away  was  Roger  Williams  himself.  He 
died  between  January  16  and  May  10,  1683,  aged 
about  eighty  years. 


PART  II 

COMMERCE  AND  COOPERATION 


1690-1763 


CHAPTER  III 


PAPER  MONEY 

Canadian  Expeditions  — The  Ten  “ Banks  ” — Trevett  vs.  Weeden. 

King  W illiam,  who  with  Mary  his  spouse  came  to 
the  English  throne  in  1689,  was  a ruler  who  knew 
thoroughly  his  own  mind,  and  that  mind  was  to 
diminish  in  the  world  the  disproportionate  power 
of  France  under  Louis  XIV.  He  purposed  to 
make  war  upon  Louis ; and  as  war  would  involve  a 
clash  between  the  French  and  English  in  America, 
it  became  part  of  his  policy  to  dispose  the  Ameri- 
can colonies  into  groups,  and  to  place  the  control 
of  each  group  (for  military  ends)  in  a single  hand. 
Thus  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  and  Rhode  Is- 
land were  constituted  a New  England  group  under 
the  military  control  of  Sir  William  Phips. 

Of  the  policy  of  King  William,  however,  the 
part  spoken  of  was  conspicuous  for  ill  success. 
Neither  Connecticut  nor  Rhode  Island  (because  of 
its  charter)  would  recognize  in  Phips  the  least 
authority.  Then  there  was  France.  Already  Count 
Frontenac  had  hurled  bands  of  savages  against 
New  York,  New  Hampshire,  and  the  dwellers  on 
the  Penobscot.  Schenectady  had  fallen  in  massa- 


66 


RHODE  ISLAND 


ere,  and  Boston  itself  had  not  been  without  alarm. 
In  1692,  therefore,  the  English  government  gave 
urgent  direction  that  a conference  be  held  at  Al- 
bany. Most  of  the  colonies  — distant  Maryland 
included  — sent  delegates,  but  Rhode  Island  did 
not ; nor  did  it  respond  to  a direct  appeal  for  help 
addressed  to  it  in  1693  by  the  governor  of  New 
York,  Benjamin  Fletcher. 

In  fact,  throughout  the  whole  of  King  William’s 
War  (1690-1697)  the  Narragansett  Bay  colony 
furnished  aid  neither  to  Phips  nor  Fletcher,  and 
one  at  least  of  its  pleas  in  apology  must  excite  a 
smile.  Owing,  it  said,  to  the  undeterminated  state 
of  its  eastern  boundary,  Massachusetts  was  enabled 
to  “ detain  from  it  several  of  its  towns,”  whereby 
it  was  “incapacitated.”  But  another  plea  Rhode 
Island  offered  which  was  honest  and  in  large  mea- 
sure a justification.  “ May  it  please  your  most 
excellent  Majesty,”  the  General  Assembly  wrote  to 
the  king  in  1693,  “ this  your  Collony  is  a frontier 
to  your  collonies  in  New  England , by  sea.”  Rhode 
Island  and  the  Sea  is  a topic  that  awaits  us  with 
the  next  chapter,  but  we  may  here  pause  to  reflect 
how  truly  this  early  official  letter  struck  the  key- 
note of  Rhode  Island  history  in  the  eighteenth 
century.  Privateering  gave  rise  to  hardihood  and 
skill  upon  the  wave  ; hardihood  and  skill  brought 
to  Narragansett  Bay  wealth  from  the  West  Indies ; 
and  by  wealth  there  was  built  up  that  Newport 
which,  throughout  the  three  decades  just  preced- 


PAPER  MONEY 


67 


ing  the  Revolution,  surpassed  New  York  for  trade 
and  quite  eclipsed  Boston  for  culture. 

The  death  of  William  in  1702  left  Louis  XIY 
to  be  dealt  with  by  Queen  Anne,  and  the  queen 
(by  Marlborough’s  help)  waged  war  against  him 
from  1702  to  1713.  In  the  earlier  stages  of  the 
war  Rhode  Island  failed  to  meet  demands  for  men 
made  by  New  York  and  Massachusetts  ; but  in 
1707  it  changed  its  attitude,  furnishing,  at  the 
request  of  Massachusetts,  militia  and  a ship  in  the 
abortive  expedition  against  Port  Royal.  This  ac- 
tion it  emphasized  in  1709  by  cheerfully  respond- 
ing with  its  quota  and  with  two  ships  of  war  for  the 
contemplated  Vetch-Nicholson  expedition  against 
Canada;  and  again  in  1710  it  was  at  hand  with 
more  than  its  quota  and  with  three  warships  for 
the  second  and,  this  time  (as  it  proved),  successful 
Port  Royal  expedition.  From  1707  to  1763  — a 
period  marked  by  the  disastrous  invasion  of  Canada 
in  1711,  the  disastrous  attack  upon  Cartagena  in 
1741,  the  brilliant  capture  of  Louisburg  in  1745, 
and  by  the  whole-  series  of  struggles  ending  with 
the  conquest  of  Canada  in  1763  — Rhode  Island 
was  pervaded  by  a martial  spirit,  a spirit  involving 
of  necessity  much  also  of  the  spirit  of  cooperation. 

In  1710  (during  the  governorship  of  Samuel 
Cranston)  the  cloud  like  a man’s  hand  appeared. 
In  that  year  the  colony,  staggered  by  the  cost  of 
its  military  undertakings,  voted  an  issue  of  bills  of 


68 


RHODE  ISLAND 


credit  for  £5000.  These  were  to  mature  in  five  years 
and  were  to  be  redeemed  in  specie.  To  insure  re- 
demption, an  annual  tax  of  £1000  was  laid  for  the 
period  during  which  the  bills  were  to  be  outstand- 
ing. In  making  the  issue  in  question,  Rhode  Island 
followed  the  example  of  Massachusetts,  a colony 
which  in  1690  had  had  recourse  to  bills  to  meet 
the  demands  of  its  soldiers  disappointed  of  booty 
in  Canada.  Cotton  Mather  quaintly  condones  these 
demands,  observing : “ Arma  tenenti , omnia  dat , 
quijusta  negat ; ” and  in  truth  it  is  difficult  to  see 
what  course  other  than  to  pledge  its  good  faith 
was  open  either  to  Massachusetts  or  Rhode  Island 
in  the  circumstances  in  which  both  were  placed. 

Harm  for  Rhode  Island  lay  not  in  a small  issue 
of  redeemable  bills  of  credit ; it  lay  in  the  taste  of 
the  joys  of  credit  per  se — unlimited  credit — which 
these  bills  were  the  means  of  affording  a hungry 
demos.  In  1710  the  colony  was  not  beyond  the 
agricultural  stage ; it  had  few  merchants  ; its  pre- 
dominant class  were  landowners ; and  what  is 
more  these  landowners  were  land  poor.  Add  the 
fact  that  in  the  eighteenth  century  the  nature  of 
money  and  of  the  relation  of  money  to  credit  was 
in  general  ill  understood,  and  it  is  not  surprising 
that  in  Rhode  Island  the  demos  (the  landowners), 
balked  of  a circulating  medium,  should  at  the  first 
opportunity  have  gone  credit  mad. 

A second  issue  of  colony  bills  came  in  the  year 
1715,  and  this  issue  differed  from  the  first.  The 


PAPER  MONEY 


69 


bills  (£40,000)  now  no  longer  were  secured  by  tax 
levy,  but  by  mortgages  upon  land.  Any  person 
wishing  to  supply  himself  with  money  might  mort- 
gage his  land  to  the  government  and  receive  bills 
to  the  amount  of  his  mortgage.  Upon  the  bills  he 
was  to  pay  five  per  cent  interest,  and  the  principal 
represented  was  to  be  met  in  ten  years.  Here  evi- 
dently was  a contrivance  that  exactly  fitted  the 
Rhode  Island  landowner’s  case.  Such  owner  had 
plenty  of  land ; this  land  he  could  convert  into 
money  by  help  of  the  government ; and  when  the 
day  should  arrive  for  converting  the  money  back, 
he  might  get  an  extension  of  time.  What  the  land- 
owner  did  not  perceive  was  that  the  land  in  which 
he  abounded  had,  by  reason  of  lack  of  demand, 
little  immediate  or  convertible  value.  When  put 
in  pledge  to  the  colony,  it  was  not  an  available 
treasury  asset.  Had  it  had  convertible  value,  the 
owner  could  have  sold  it,  or  borrowed  upon  it  upon 
easy  terms  in  the  open  market,  and  the  government 
need  not  have  been  involved. 

Between  1710  and  1751  there  were  nine  several 
“banks”  (as  the  loans  upon  land  security  were 
called)  floated  in  Rhode  Island ; and  what  these 
“ banks  ” typified  for  the  colony  was  distinctly  a 
rake’s  progress.  At  first  (1715)  the  “bank,”  like 
the  bill  of  credit,  was  honestly  resorted  to  as  a 
means  of  meeting  the  cost  incurred  in  Queen  Anne’s 
War.  Next  (1721,  1728,  1731,  1733,  and  1738)  it 
was  resorted  to  as  a means  of  postponing  liquidation 


70 


RHODE  ISLAND 


and  so  of  keeping  the  people  satisfied ; although, 
to  put  a better  face  upon  the  operation,  stress  was 
laid  on  bounties,  on  the  opportunely  ruinous  condi- 
tion of  Fort  Anne  (afterwards  Fort  George)  at  the 
entrance  to  Newport  Harbor,  and  on  the  likewise 
opportunely  ruinous  condition  of  the  Newport  jail. 

By  1731,  when  the  total  amount  of  bills  out- 
standing exceeded  <£120, 000,  uneasiness  began  to  be 
shown.  Depreciation  had  set  in  to  such  an  extent 
that  silver,  which  had  been  worth  eight  shillings 
an  ounce,  now  rose  to  twenty.  Besides,  counter- 
feiting was  becoming  a vexatious  grievance.1  But 
there  was  another  cause  for  the  gathering  alarm. 
Rhode  Island  was  no  longer  wholly  agricultural. 
At  Newport  mercantile  interests  were  waxing 
strong.  Accordingly,  on  the  25th  of  June,  just  after 
the  General  Assembly  had  decreed  a “ bank  ” of 
£60,000,  Governor  Joseph  Jenckes,  relying  upon 
an  order-in-council  issued  in  1720,  requiring  the 

1 Under  date  of  February  17,  1729,  John  Comer  makes  note  in 
his  diary  of  “ a number  of  persons  found  in  ye  act  of  counter- 
feiting ye  bills  of  credit  of  this  colony.”  These  persons  had,  as 
they  expressed  it,  “ unanimously  joined  in  a League  and  Contract, 
to  use  our  best  endeavors  in  our  respective  places  to  make  and 
put  off  without  discovery  a quantity  of  paper  money.”  The 
“ League  ” was  concluded  thus  : “ God  save  ye  King,  prosper  our 
progress  herein,  and  keep  us  from  all  traitors.  . . . Then  each 
and  every  one  of  us  taking  ye  Bible  in  our  hands  swore  by  ye 
contents  thereof,  to  observe  these  Articles  of  Agreement.”  It 
further  appears  from  Comer’s  diary  that  on  April  28,  1729, 
Nicholas  Oatis,  one  of  the  “ League,”  “ stood  in  ye  pillory  and 
had  his  ears  dipt  for  making  money.”  — E.  I.  Hist.  Coll.  vol. 
viii. 


PAPER  MONEY 


71 


royal  assent  to  acts  for  the  emission  of  bills  of 
credit,  interposed  a veto.  A storm  at  once  arose, 
and  the  governor,  backed  by  such  representative 
Newporters  as  Abraham  Redwood,  W illiam  Ellery, 
John  Freebody,  Nathaniel  Kay,  Daniel  Ayrault, 
and  others,  appealed  for  justification  to  the  king. 

The  situation  was  one  of  interest.  Never  before 
had  a Rhode  Island  governor  presumed  to  try  to 
checkmate  the  General  Assembly.  So  to  presume, 
indeed,  was  revolutionary  of  Rhode  Island  ideas  — 
an  attack  upon  the  colony’s  individualistic  demo- 
cracy. As  it  proved,  the  old  principles  were  en- 
tirely safe.  The  king  decided,  first,  that  by  the 
Rhode  Island  charter  the  governor  himself  was 
“ a part  of  the  Assembly,”  hence  void  of  power 
against  it ; and,  second,  that  by  the  charter  the 
crown  even  had  no  discretionary  power  of  repeal- 
ing laws  in  Rhode  Island.  All  laws  enacted  there 
were  valid,  save  such  as  contravened  the  laws  of 
England. 

The  foregoing  decision  but  served  of  course  to 
encourage  the  supporters  of  the  credit  system,  and 
under  the  regime  of  the  W an  tons  and  of  Governor 
William  Greene  the  launching  of  “banks”  went 
merrily  on  in  the  years  1740  and  1744.  These  years 
were  years  of  war,  and  as  such  afforded  to  the 
scheme  of  “ banks  ” a better  pretext,  for  now  per- 
haps Fort  George  did  require  repairing,  and  of  a 
certainty  there  were  required  both  ships  and  men. 
Still  depreciation  was  only  accelerated ; nor  could 


72 


RHODE  ISLAND 


it  be  brought  to  pause  by  the  device  of  inscribing 
upon  the  bills  their  declared  value  in  gold  and 
silver.  So  serious  had  the  depreciation  become  by 
1746  that  the  Assembly  was  forced  to  raise  the 
qualification  of  voters  from  two  hundred  to  four 
hundred  pounds,  in  order  to  keep  the  franchise 
within  anything  like  its  original  limits. 

All  this  was  bad  enough,  but  it  was  not  the  worst. 
In  1747  Parliament  appropriated  £800,000  to  re- 
imburse the  colonies  for  their  outlay  in  the  expedi- 
tion against  Louisburg,  and  Massachusetts  with  its 
proportion  of  the  sum  proceeded  to  redeem  in  part 
its  outstanding  paper.  It  at  the  same  time  passed 
an  act  prohibiting  the  circulation  of  the  bills  of 
the  other  colonies  within  its  borders.  Here  was 
a further  blow  to  Rhode  Island  money,  a blow 
fraught  with  bankruptcy  for  not  a few. 

The  strength  of  the  landholding  class  around 
Narragansett  Bay  and  the  fatuous  blindness  there 
of  nearly  everybody  else,  excepting  a few  merchants 
at  Newport,  is  illustrated  by  an  elaborate  defense 
of  paper  money  addressed  by  Governor  Richard 
Ward  to  the  Lords  of  Trade  on  January  9,  1740. 
The  governor  confessed  to  bills  outstanding  in  the 
aggregate  of  £340,000  ; but  calling  attention  to  the 
trade  of  the  colony,  which  was  represented  by  one 
hundred  and  twenty  sail,  drew  the  hardy  inference 
that  “ if  this  colony  be  in  any  respect  happy  and 
flourishing,  it  is  paper  money  and  a right  applica- 
tion of  it  that  hath  rendered  us  so.” 


PAPER  MONEY 


73 


With  1750  Rhode  Island  in  its  financial  “pro- 
gress ” came  to  a turning  point.  In  the  month  of 
August  a “ bank  ” of  £50,000  was  ordered  by  the 
lower  house  of  the  Assembly.  Counterfeiting  was 
made  punishable  with  death,  and  the  Assembly 
adjourned  to  reconvene  in  September.  On  Sep- 
tember 4 a petition  bearing  seventy-two  signa- 
tures, signatures  of  substantial,  intelligent  men  — 
of  the  Freebodys,  the  Ayraults,  the  Harrisons,  the 
Redwoods,  the  Tillinghasts  — was  forwarded  in 
desperation  to  the  king. 

“ The  currency  or  instrument  of  commerce  of  a 
country  [declared  the  petitioners]  being  the  stand- 
ard and  measure  by  which  the  worth  of  all  things 
bought  and  sold  are  established  and  determined, 
it  ought  to  be  fixed  invariably,  otherwise  property 
can  neither  be  ascertained  nor  secured  by  any  plan 
or  method  whatsoever.”  Five  allegations  were 
then  categorically  put  forth : That  the  currency 
of  Rhode  Island  had  sunk  in  value  “ above  one 
half  in  seven  years ; ” that  the  colony  had  now 
outstanding  in  bills  £525,835 ; that  these  bills 
“ ought  to  be  drawn  in  by  a tax ; ” that  so  far 
from  levying  such  a tax  the  house  of  deputies 
had  just  passed  a vote  for  £50,000  of  further 
bills ; that  of  the  bills  outstanding  £390,000  had 
been  secured  by  mortgages  upon  land,  and  that  a 
strong  reason  for  the  authorization  by  the  depu- 
ties of  the  £50,000  more  of  similar  bills  was  that, 
in  the  general  plethora,  landowners  might  be  en- 


74 


RHODE  ISLAND 


abled  to  discharge  their  mortgages  for  a song. 
The  petitioners  humbly  prayed  that  his  Majesty 
would  prevent  the  government  of  its  colony  of 
Rhode  Island  “ from  emitting  any  more  bills  of 
credit  upon  loan”  without  his  Majesty’s  permission. 

The  prayer  was  effective.  In  1751  Parliament 
passed  an  act  forbidding  all  further  “ banks,” 
and  permitting  the  issue  of  bills  of  credit  for  but 
two  objects,  — current  expenses  of  the  colony  and 
expenses  arising  from  the  exigencies  of  war.  Bills 
for  the  first  object  might  run  two  years,  and  for 
the  second,  five.  Provision  for  redemption  must 
be  made  at  the  time  of  issue ; there  was  to  be  no 
legal  tender  feature,  and  the  royal  approval  was 
to  be  a sine  qua  non. 

By  means  of  bills  of  the  character  indicated, 
Rhode  Island  was  enabled,  without  serious  strain, 
to  meet  its  proportion  of  the  cost  of  the  expedi- 
tion projected  in  1755  against  Crown  Point;  and 
when,  in  1756,  there  were  received  from  England 
six  chests  of  silver  and  one  of  gold  as  a partial 
reimbursement  of  outlay,  the  money  was  promptly 
used  for  redemption  purposes.  In  1763,  at  the 
end  of  the  struggle  for  Canada,  gold  and  silver 
coin  were  made  by  act  of  the  Assembly  the  only 
lawful  money  in  the  colony.  The  recovery  by 
Rhode  Island  of  sanity  upon  the  money  question 
was  remarkably  swift;  as  swift  almost  as  had 
been  the  recovery  by  Massachusetts  of  sanity  upon 
the  question  of  witchcraft.  Moreover,  throughout 


PAPER  MONEY 


75 


the  war  of  the  Revolution  Rhode  Island  main- 
tained its  good  reputation.  In  1776  it  with  great 
docility  accepted  the  recommendation  of  a com- 
mittee of  the  New  England  States  to  emit  no 
unnecessary  bills  of  credit,  but  rather  to  levy 
taxes  or  borrow;  and,  in  1780,  acting  upon  a 
resolution  of  the  Continental  Congress,  it  passed 
a measure  so  equitably  adjusting  between  debtor 
and  creditor  the  complexities  growing  out  of 
Continental  currency  that  its  course  was  widely 
imitated. 

For  the  reformed  commonwealth,  as  for  the 
reformed  individual,  lo,  the  pitfalls  and  tempta- 
tions ! For  Rhode  Island  the  temptation  now  to 
be  recorded  was  sore  indeed. 

In  launching  its  first  “bank”  the  colony  had 
been  moved  by  a cry  for  money,  a convenience, 
rather  than  by  a cry  for  bread,  a necessity. 
In  1786,  when  the  tenth  and  last  “bank”  was 
launched,  bread  to  an  alarming  extent  was  the 
object  sought.  - 

In  this  situation  what  the  enlightened  part  of 
the  people  desired  to  do  was  to  grin  and  bear 
misfortune ; what  the  unenlightened  part  desired 
to  do  was  to  secure  immediate  relief.  In  1785  the 
General  Assembly  (still  in  the  hands  of  the  com- 
mercial class)  rejected  a petition  for  an  emission 
of  paper.  In  1786  the  General  Assembly,  now 
divided  between  the  commercial  class  and  their 


76 


RHODE  ISLAND 


opponents  the  agriculturalists,  gave  strong  signs 
of  regarding  paper  as  not  the  worst  of  evils.  New- 
port and  Providence  thereupon  presented  strong 
protests,  and  again  the  movement  for  paper 
received  a check.  But  in  1786,  at  the  spring 
election,  the  agriculturalists  carried  all  before 
them,  and  an  Assembly  was  elected  pledged  to 
paper  as  the  only  means  of  relief. 

The  triumph  of  the  agriculturalists  on  the 
money  question  was  in  reality  the  triumph  (tem- 
porarily) of  the  old  individualism  over  cooperation. 
It  was  a reactionary  step,  and,  like  most  steps  of 
the  kind,  culminated  in  extremes.  The  new  As- 
sembly, on  convening,  passed  an  act  for  the 
launching  of  a “bank”  — the  familiar  old  bank 
of  the  years  1710  to  1750  — for  £100,000.  But 
the  old  bank  was  made  fresh  by  a clever  device. 
Should  any  creditor  refuse  to  accept  its  bills  in 
payment,  the  debtor  might  secure  a discharge  by 
depositing  bills  in  the  amount  of  his  debt  with 
one  of  the  judges  of  the  Superior  Court  or  of  the 
Court  of  Common  Pleas.  It  nevertheless  was  part 
of  the  device  that,  upon  the  completion  of  the 
deposit,  the  judge  must  cite  the  creditor  personally 
to  appear  within  ten  days  to  receive  his  money; 
and  under  this  provision  many  and  diverting  were 
the  incidents.  The  natural  order  of  things  (as  in 
“Alice  Through  the  Looking  Glass  ”)  was  entirely 
reversed.  Instead  of  debtors  seeking  to  escape 
their  creditors,  creditors  now  were  seeking  franti- 


PAPER  MONEY 


77 


cally  to  escape  their  debtors.  Haggard  and  har- 
assed, the  pursued  creditor  found  (we  are  told) 
asylum  in  his  attic ; or  perchance  leaped  headlong 
from  a convenient  window. 

But  two  months  were  required  to  demonstrate 
that  existing  measures  would  not  prevent  a de- 
preciation of  the  new  bills.  An  act,  therefore,  was 
passed  imposing  a penalty  of  one  hundred  pounds 
upon  any  one  who  should  refuse  to  accept  them  at 
their  face  value  in  exchange  for  commodities.  This 
act  made  clear  the  wisdom  of  those  who  had  coun- 
seled a policy  of  endurance  rather  than  one  of 
credit.  Merchants  closed  their  stores.  People  left 
the  State.  Food  became  scarcer  than  ever.  Uncon- 
vinced still,  and  wrathful  at  opposition,  the  agricul- 
turalists got  together  in  town  meetings  and  farmers’ 
conventions  and  arranged  for  a convention  which 
should  be  representative  of  farmers  throughout  the 
State.  By  this  body,  to  which  sixteen  towns  sent 
delegates,  it  was  advised  that  the  paper  money 
laws  be  “ supported.”  And  supported  they  were 
to  the  bitter  end.  - 

At  a special  session  of  the  General  Assembly 
held  in  August,  1786,  at  Newport,  there  was  created 
a court  for  the  trial  of  complaints  against  creditors. 
The  court  consisted  of  not  less  than  three  judges 
drawn  from  the  Superior  Court  or  Court  of  Com- 
mon Pleas,  and  was  to  convene  at  any  time  upon 
three  days’  summons.  There  was  to  be  no  jury, 
decision  was  to  be  by  majority  vote,  and  from  such 


78 


RHODE  ISLAND 


decision  there  was  to  be  no  appeal.  The  one-hun- 
dred pound  penalty  for  refusing  to  give  commodities 
for  paper  was  reduced,  but  the  reduction  was  largely 
offset  by  a provision  that  upon  the  conviction  of  a 
creditor  sentence  was  to  be  put  immediately  into 
execution.  Neither  delay  nor  suspension  was  to  be 
permitted.  Against  the  above  described  sweeping 
attack  by  the  legislature  upon  personal  liberty,  the 
commercial  element,  through  the  deputies  from 
Newport,  Providence,  Bristol,  Warren,  and  New 
Shoreham,  made  vigorous  protest,  but  absolutely  to 
no  effect.  It  remained  for  a poor  Newport  butcher 
— a man  so  poor  that  within  a month  he  had  re- 
ceived town  aid  — to  vindicate  Magna  Charta  by 
precipitating  one  of  the  most  memorable  trials  in 
American  history. 

The  butcher  referred  to  was  John  Weeden.  In 
September,  1786,  he  refused  a piece  of  paper  cur- 
rency tendered  him  by  John  Trevett  in  payment 
for  a piece  of  meat.  Trevett  at  once  filed  a com- 
plaint, and  the  case  was  heard  before  the  judges 
of  the  Superior  Court  on  September  25.  The 
defendant  was  charged  with  a violation  of  the 
statute,  and  this  charge  he  met  by  a threefold 
plea : first,  that  the  statute  had  expired  (a  technical 
contention  based  on  the  ambiguous  wording  of  the 
act);  second,  that  the  matter  complained  of  had 
been  made  triable  before  a special  court  uncon- 
trolled by  the  supreme  judiciary  ; and  third,  that 
the  statute  was  unconstitutional  and  void,  because 


PAPER  MONEY 


79 


by  it  there  was  denied  to  the  defendant  a trial  by 

3UI7- 

Weeden’s  counsel  were  James  M.  Varnum  of 
East  Greenwich  and  Henry  Marchant  of  Newport, 
men  of  the  highest  standing  and  best  talent.  Var- 
num addressed  the  court  first,  and  in  opening  said  : 
“Well  may  a profound  silence  mark  the  attention 
of  this  numerous  and  respectable  assembly!  Well 
may  anxiety  be  displayed  in  every  countenance  ! 
Well  may  the  dignity  of  the  bench  condescend  to 
our  solicitude  for  a most  candid  and  serious  atten- 
tion, seeing  that  from  the  first  settlement  of  this 
country  until  the  present  moment  a question  of 
such  magnitude  as  that  upon  which  the  judgment 
of  the  court  is  now  prayed  hath  not  been  judicially 
agitated ! ” 

The  first  two  points  of  the  plea  for  the  accused 
were  dwelt  upon  briefly.  The  third  — that  of  denial 
of  trial  by  jury  — was  elaborated  exhaustively  and 
with  deep  feeling.  It  was  Varnum’ s contention  that 
trial  by  one’s  peers  (the  mode  of  trial  secured  to 
every  Englishman  by  Magna  Charta)  had  been 
established  in  Rhode  Island  by  the  charter  of  the 
colony,  which  provided  that  the  inhabitants  “ should 
have  and  enjoy  all  liberties  ...  of  free  and  nat- 
ural subjects  ...  as  if  they  . . . were  born 
within  the  realm  of  England.”  American  independ- 
ence, it  was  averred,  did  not  affect  the  matter,  for 
the  colony  charter  had  been  retained  and  was  in 
force  as  the  constitution  of  the  State.  With  this 


80 


RHODE  ISLAND 


point  settled  there  remained  but  one  other.  Who 
in  a given  case  was  to  decide  whether  an  in- 
habitant — a citizen  — had  been  deprived  of  a 
chartered  right  ? “ Have  the  judges  a power  to 
repeal,  to  amend,  to  alter  laws,  or  to  make  new 
laws  ? ” asked  the  advocate.  “ God  forbid ! In  that 
case  they  would  become  legislators.”  “ But,”  he 
continued,  “the  judiciary  have  the  sole  power  of 
judging  of  laws  . . . and  cannot  admit  any  act  of 
the  legislature  as  law  which  is  against  the  consti- 
tution.” Here  was  the  whole  case  for  the  accused, 
and  it  was  a strong  one. 

But  strong  on  the  constitutional  point  as  Wee- 
den’s  case  was,  the  point  itself  was  hardly  (as  Var- 
num  had  claimed  in  his  exordium)  one  never  before 
“ judicially  agitated  ” in  America.  A single  court 
prior  to  this  time  (the  Supreme  Court  of  New  Jer- 
sey in  1779)  had  weighed  the  question  of  the  com- 
petence of  the  judiciary  to  declare  an  act  of  the 
legislature  void  on  constitutional  grounds,  and  had 
found  unanimously  in  favor  of  such  competence.1 

1 The  New  Jersey  case  was  Holmes  vs.  Walton , 4 Halstead, 
N.  J.,  444.  (See  Am.  Hist.  Rev.  vol.  iv,  p.  469.)  Trevett  vs.  Weeden , 
although  not  decided  upon  constitutional  grounds,  is  often  quoted 
as  if  so  decided.  (See  Cooley,  Constitutional  Limitations , 4th  ed. 
p.  196;  Bryce,  The  American  Commonwealth  (earlier  editions),  vol. 
i,  p.  244 ; Arnold,  History  of  Rhode  Island , vol.  ii,  p.  525 ; McMas- 
ter,  History  of  the  People  of  the  United  States , vol.  i,  pp.  337-339 
(but  see  vol.  v,  p.  398) ; Fiske,  The  Critical  Period  of  American 
History,  p.  175 ; Channing,  The  United  States  of  America , p.  119. 
The  true  ground  of  the  decision  (lack  of  jurisdiction)  was  stated 
in  1883  by  Judge  Thomas  Durfee  of  Rhode  Island  in  his“  Glean- 


PAPER  MONEY 


81 


In  Trevett  vs.  Weeden  the  Rhode  Island  judiciary 
waived  the  constitutional  point,  and,  tacitly  indors- 
ing the  plea  of  the  accused  that  the  body  charged 
with  the  trial  of  the  offense  was  not  the  Superior 
Court,  but  one  specially  constituted,  dismissed  the 
complaint  before  it  for  lack  of  jurisdiction. 


ings  from  the  Judicial  History  of  Rhode  Island  ” (Rider’s  Hist. 
Tract  No.  18,  p.  52).  It  was  also  stated  by  Mr.  S.  S.  Rider  in  1889, 
in  a review  of  Bryce’s  American  Commonwealth  ( Book  Notes,  vol. 
vi,  p.  41),  and  in  1902  by  Mr.  E.  C.  Stiness  in  his  “ Struggle  for 
Judicial  Supremacy  in  Rhode  Island,”  contributed  to  Edward 
Field’s  Rhode  Island  at  the  End  of  the  Century , vol.  iii). 

What  makes  the  New  Jersey  and  Rhode  Island  cases  of  sur- 
passing interest  is  a consideration  of  an  historical  nature.  Until 
these  decisions  were  made,  it  was  an  open  question  in  America 
whether  the  courts  (state  and  national)  would,  in  gauging  legis- 
lative power,  follow  English  Parliamentary  precedent,  or  the  dicta 
of  certain  English  judges.  According  to  Parliamentary  precedent, 
the  legislature  (Parliament)  was  an  omnipotent  body  bound  by  no 
set  of  fundamental  principles.  According  to  the  dicta  of  a few 
English  judges,  “ the  Common  Law  doth  control  Acts  of  Parlia- 
ment.” Thus  Lord  Coke  (the  patron  of  Roger  Williams)  in  Bon- 
ham’s case  (8  Rep.  114)  and  Chief  Justice  Hobart  (Hobart’s 
Reports)  held  that  the  common  law  was  supreme  over  Parliament. 
In  Trevett  vs.  Weeden,  Vamum  cited  both  Coke  and  Hobart,  as 
also  Plowden  and  Bacon’s  Abridgment  (iv,  635),  in  support  of  his 
contention  that  the  legislature  was  bound  to  regard  constitutional 
limitations.  Presumably  similar  citations  were  made  in  Holmes  vs. 
Walton.  The  American  courts,  therefore,  chose  at  the  very  out- 
set (1779  and  1786)  to  indorse  the  dicta  of  judges  like  Coke, 
Hobart,  Plowden,  and  Bacon,  in  support  of  the  common  law 
(constitutional  law)  rather  than  to  follow  the  strict  precedent  of 
English  Parliamentary  practice.  On  the  whole  subject  the  reader 
is  referred  to  an  admirable  paper  by  Judge  Charles  B.  Elliott  of 
Minneapolis,  printed  in  the  Political  Science  Quarterly  for  June, 
1890. 


82 


RHODE  ISLAND 


At  first  the  dismissal  — construed  as  it  was  as  a 
vindication  of  both  W eeden  and  honest  money  — 
promised  ill  consequences.  Rhode  Island’s  individ- 
ualistic democracy  was  shocked  profoundly ; more 
so  than  it  had  been  at  the  attempted  exercise  by 
Governor  Jenckes  of  the  veto  power.  Was  it  then 
true,  it  was  indignantly  asked,  that  in  Rhode  Island 
the  ruling  element  was  no  longer  the  people  ? Were 
governors  and  judges  to  set  themselves  up  against 
the  General  Assembly  ? Not  if  the  General  Assem- 
bly rightly  gauged  its  power.  Paul  Mumford, 
Joseph  Hazard,  Thomas  Tillinghast,  Gilbert  Devol, 
and  David  Howell  — the  five  judges  who  had  heard 
the  now  famous  case  — were  summoned  promptly 
to  appear  before  the  Assembly  and  to  assign  the 
reasons  of  their  judgment.  The  court  (so  the  sum- 
mons recited)  had  declared  an  act  of  the  supreme 
legislature  unconstitutional  and  void,  and  such 
adjudication  “ tended  to  abolish  the  legislative  au- 
thority.” Howell,  the  youngest  of  the  judges,  but  a 
Princeton  graduate  and  the  only  trained  lawyer 
of  the  court,  explained  that  the  act  had  not  been 
declared  unconstitutional.  He  at  the  same  time 
proclaimed  it  the  right  of  the  bench  to  pass  upon 
the  constitutionality  of  any  legislative  act.  At 
length  the  Assembly,  counseled  by  the  attorney- 
general  (William  Channing,  father  of  William 
Ellery  Channing),  brought  itself  to  declare  : “ As 
the  judges  are  not  charged  with  any  criminality 
in  rendering  the  judgment  upon  the  information 


PAPER  MONEY 


83 


Trevett  vs.  Weeden , they  are  discharged  from  any 
further  attendance  upon  this  Assembly,  on  that 
account.” 

At  the  spring  election  of  1788  Hazard,  Tilling- 
hast,  and  Howell  all  failed  of  reelection ; but  such 
evidences  of  spleen  proved  to  be  only  the  dying 
convulsions  of  the  paper  money  party.  By  1789 
(when  the  legal  tender  statute  of  1786  was  re- 
pealed) death  had  quite  supervened;  not,  how- 
ever, before  Rhode  Island’s  reputation  had  been 
smirched  ; nor  before  a Connecticut  poet  had  sung 
in  jeering  distich,  — 

“ Hail  realm  of  rogues,  renowned  for  fraud  and  guile, 
All  hail  ye  knaveries  of  yon  little  isle. 


The  wiser  race,  the  snares  of  law  to  shun, 

Like  Lot  from  Sodom,  from  Rhode  Island  run.” 


CHAPTER  IV 


RHODE  ISLAND  AND  THE  SEA 

Piracy  and  Bellomont  — The  Wantons  and  Privateering’  — Colony 
Sloop  Tartar  — The  Spanish  Main. 

If,  down  to  1759,  the  wars  with  France  and  Spain 
led  in  Rhode  Island  to  the  manifold  woes  of  paper 
money,  these  same  wars,  together  with  the  great 
French  war  of  1756,  led  to  other  things  as  well. 
They  led  through  privateering  to  the  golden  age 
of  Newport.  They  led  also,  through  the  same 
means,  to  an  American  navy. 

It  was  in  May,  1690,  that  Rhode  Island  waged 
its  first  fight  upon  the  sea.  A French  privateer- 
ing fleet  of  seven  small  sail  had  captured  Block 
Island.  For  a week  the  captors  had  rioted  there, 
plundering  and  maltreating  the  inhabitants  and 
threatening  a descent  upon  Newport  itself.  In  the 
emergency  Captain  Thomas  Paine,  a Newport 
seaman,  manned  two  sloops  with  ninety  men  and 
sought  the  enemy.  He  soon  fell  in  with  five  sail, 
and,  running  into  shallow  water  to  avoid  being 
surrounded,  gave  battle  against  odds.  The  French 
captain  bore  down  in  melodramatic  style,  wishing 
himself  “damned  if  he  did  not  board  immedi- 
ately,” but  was  repulsed  and  after  two  hours  of 


RHODE  ISLAND  AND  THE  SEA  85 

musketry  combat  withdrew.  The  day  following, 
when  Paine  would  have  renewed  the  attack,  his 
enemy  put  hastily  to  sea,  scuttling  a prize  laden 
with  wines  to  expedite  his  progress. 

The  year  1690  was  that  of  the  beginning  of 
King  William’s  War,  but  it  was  by  no  means  that 
of  the  beginning  of  Rhode  Island’s  familiarity 
with  privateering.  As  long  ago  as  1653  the  island 
of  Rhode  Island  had  sent  out  vessels  against  the 
Dutch ; and  since  1680  captains  bearing  question- 
able West  India  commissions  had  found  the  shores 
of  Narragansett  Bay  not  inhospitable.  In  fact,  the 
redoubtable  Paine  was  of  this  class,  for  in  1683, 
on  arriving  at  Newport  in  command  of  a ship  com- 
missioned from  Jamaica,  he  had  escaped  arrest 
only  by  the  timely  interposition  of  Governor  Wil- 
liam Coddington. 

The  report  as  to  Paine  which  the  deputy  col- 
lector at  Boston  sent  to  England  may  well  have 
elicited  the  letter  which  in  1684  was  dispatched  by 
the  king  to  Rhode  Island,  commanding  the  enact- 
ment of  a law  for-  the  “ suppressing  of  privateers 
and  pirates.”  At  all  events  such  a law  was  passed. 
But  law  or  no  law,  the  business  of  privateering 
(now  piracy)  at  Rhode  Island  was  not  lessened, 
and  by  the  close  of  King  William’s  War,  in  1697, 
it  was  to  attain  proportions  truly  formidable. 

From  1690  to  1695  John  Easton  was  governor 
at  Newport.  From  1696  to  1698  the  governor  was 
Walter  Clarke.  Both  Easton  and  Clarke  were 


86 


RHODE  ISLAND 


Quakers,  and  as  such  purposely  inactive  with  re- 
gard to  the  war  then  in  progress.  But  during  the 
entire  decade,  1690  to  1700,  John  Greene  was  dep- 
uty-governor.  Upon  him  as  emphatically  a fight- 
ing man  there  devolved  the  task  of  prosecuting  the 
conflict  — a task  which,  as  Rhode  Island  did  virtu- 
ally nothing  on  land,  consisted  mainly  in  commis- 
sioning privateers.  Greene  in  some  respects  was  a 
unique  character.  He  was  a strong  Gortonist,  and 
in  that  capacity  had  rendered  important  public 
service  by  withstanding  Harris  and  the  Atherton 
Company.  But  his  Gortonism  was  avowedly  Anti- 
nomian  in  the  extreme.  There  was  involved  in  it 
the  doctrine  that,  provided  a man  were  at  one  with 
God  inwardly,  it  mattered  not  what  his  mere  out- 
ward conduct  might  be ; “ he  might  [if  he  chose] 
do  what  a beast  mjght  do.”  So,  in  commissioning 
privateers,  Greene  with  tranquil  “ inwardness  ” 
took  no  bonds  and  kept  few  troublesome  copies  of 
papers.  The  fact  that  these  privateers  in  many 
instances  turned  out  piratical  craft  is  something 
which  may  or  may  not  have  been  anticipated. 

Nathaniel  Coddington,  register  of  the  local  Court 
of  Admiralty,  charges  Deputy-Governor  Greene 
with  having  commissioned  thirty  privateers  during 
the  year  1694.  Among  them  was  a barque  com- 
manded by  John  Bankes  and  a brigantine  com- 
manded by  William  Mayes.  Apropos  of  Mayes,  the 
Lords  of  Trade  advised  the  Governor  and  Company 
of  Rhode  Island  in  1697  that  it  was  reported  that 


RHODE  ISLAND  AND  THE  SEA 


87 


their  colony  was  “ a place  where  pirates  were  or- 
dinarily too  kindly  entertained ; ” and  it  is  true 
that  in  1699  the  return  of  Mayes  from  the  Red 
Sea  “ with  vast  wealth  ” was  eagerly  awaited.  But 
Bankes  is  of  more  interest  to  us  than  Mayes,  for 
he  had  as  a partner  or  companion  the  famous 
Rhode  Islander,  Thomas  Tew. 

The  vessels  of  Bankes  and  Tew  — the  latter  ves- 
sel a large  sloop  with  accommodations  for  eighty 
men  — lay  side  by  side  at  Newport,  and  the  strife 
to  fill  a berth  in  either  was  intense.  Says  Cod- 
dington  : “ Men  come  from  all  the  country  round ; 
servants  left  their  masters  and  sons  their  parents ; 
many  hid  themselves  on  board ; it  may  be  with  a 
griefe  spoken  the  endeavors  some  men  made  to  send 
away  the  youth  of  the  land.”  “ Of  these  men,” 
Coddington  continues,  “ our  good  governor  [Easton] 
laboured  to  hinder  the  wicked  designs.”  And  again : 
“ All  the  vessels  had  great  guns  mounted  ; no  cost 
was  spared  for  small  arms  and  powder.  . . . The 
discourse  was  generally  that  they  were  bound  to 
Madagascar,  but  some  [thought]  they  were  to  go 
to  the  Red  Sea 1 where  the  money  was  as  plenty  as 

1 “ We  [a  band  of  English  pirates]  came  early  in  1696  to  Lipa- 
ran  Island  at  the  mouth  of  the  Red  Sea,  where  three  more  sail 
of  English  came  to  us,  one  commanded  by  Thomas  Wake,  an- 
other, the  Pearl,  William  Hues  [Mayes]  commander,  fitted  out  at 
Rhode  Island,  the  Amity,  Thomas  Tew  commander.  . . . They 
all  joined  partnership,  putting  Captain  Every  [Avery]  in  com- 
mand. . . . After  five  or  six  days  the  Moors’  ships,  twenty-five 
in  number,  passed  them  in  the  night ; but  hearing  of  this  from  a 


88 


RHODE  ISLAND 


stones  and  sand,  saying  the  people  there  were  infi- 
dels, and  it  was  no  sin  to  kill  them.”  Bankes  got 
away  in  due  form  by  Greene’s  connivance ; but 
Tew  made  the  mistake  of  applying  for  a commis- 
sion to  Easton,  and  the  further  mistake  of  offering 
the  governor  a douceur  of  c£500.  He  did  not  get 
his  commission,  so  put  to  sea  without  a clearance. 
He  joined  forces  with  the  noted  pirate  Mission ; 
established  a colony  in  Madagascar;  resisted  the 
Portuguese  ; amassed  an  immense  fortune  ; and 
returning  to  Newport  paid  the  owners  of  the  vessel 
in  which  he  had  sailed  fourteen  times  the  cost  of 
their  adventure. 

One  day  a pirate  more  desperate  even  than  Tew 
appeared — Joseph  Bradish.  In  1698  Bradish  was 
boatswain’s  mate  on  board  the  ship  Adventure, 

captured  ketch  they  resolved  to  follow  them.  . . . Steering  for 
Surat  we  caught  up  one  of  the  ships  which  we  took  after  she  had 
fired  three  shots,  she  had  £50,000  or  £60,000  on  board  in  silver 
and  gold.  We  shortly  afterwards  spied  another  ship,  mounting 
forty  guns  and  carrying  (as  was  said)  800  men.  She  stood  a fight 
of  three  hours  and  yielded.” 

“We  kept  possession  of  both  ships,  and  all  the  crew,  except 
one  man,  boarded  her  by  turns,  taking  only  provisions,  necessa- 
ries, and  treasure,  which  was  very  great,  but  little  in  comparison 
with  what  was  on  board ; for  though  they  put  several  to  the  tor- 
ture they  would  not  confess  where  the  rest  of  their  treasure  lay. 
They  took  great  quantities  of  jewels,  and  a saddle  and  bridle  set 
with  rubies  designed  as  a present  for  the  Great  Mogul.  Several 
of  the  Indian  women  on  board  were,  by  their  habits  and  jewels, 
of  better  quality  than  the  rest.”  [Report  by  the  secretary  of  the 
East  India  Company  to  the  Lords  of  Trade  concerning  acts  of 
piracy  committed  in  the  Indian  seas  in  the  spring  of  1696.— 
British  State  Papers  — America  and  West  Indies  — 1696,  1697.] 


— 'V* 


RHODE  ISLAND  AND  THE  SEA 


89 


bound  from  London  to  Borneo.  Winning  twenty 
men  to  his  design,  he  awaited  his  chance,  seized 
the  vessel,  put  ashore  part  of  the  crew  on  a desert 
spot  to  starve,  and  made  all  sail  for  Block  Island 
— that  same  Block  Island  which  in  1690  had  been 
so  gallantly  rescued  from  piratical  hands  by  Cap- 
tain Paine.  But  in  the  estimation  of  the  Block 
Islanders  there  evidently  were  pirates  and  pirates. 
One  kind  came  (as  had  come  the  French)  to  plun- 
der and  lay  waste  ; another  kind  — the  Bradish 
kind  — came  to  find  shelter  and  to  divide  spoil. 
The  latter  were  welcome.  Capture,  however,  over- 
took Bradish,  and  he  was  lodged  in  jail  in  Boston. 
He  soon  contrived  to  escape,  and  with  fine  discrim- 
ination as  to  places  fled  back  to  Rhode  Island. 

Throughout  the  period  covered  by  King  Wil- 
liam’s War  and  the  deputy-governorship  of  Greene 
it  was  well-nigh  impossible  in  Rhode  Island  to 
secure  the  apprehension,  the  detention,  or  the  con- 
viction of  any  person  for  piracy.  Pirates  resorted 
there,  spent  their  money  there,  even  married  there. 
Arrests,  it  is  true,  TVere  sometimes  made,  as  in  the 
case  of  Robert  Munday  and  George  Cutler  of  the 
Henry  Avery  crew,  who  were  unable  to  account  for 
money  and  East  India  goods  in  their  possession  ; 
but  escape  by  connivance  of  jailers  was  more  cer- 
tain than  arrest,  and  when  it  was  sought  to  indict 
the  jailers  grand  juries  were  wont  to  indorse  “ ig- 
noramus ” upon  the  bills.  Indeed,  by  1699  so  per- 
fect a haven  for  freebooters  had  Narragansett  Bay 


90 


RHODE  ISLAND 


become  that  certain  of  the  associates  of  the  never- 
to-be-forgotten  William  Kidd  were  making  it  their 
asylum.  Among  them  was  the  murderous  James 
Gillam.  Also  among  them  was  our  own  worthy 
Captain  Thomas  Paine,  soon  to  be  enrolled  a 
founder  of  Trinity  Church,  Newport.  To  him,  in 
his  unobtrusive  abode  on  the  island  of  Conanicut, 
Kidd  from  his  jail  in  Boston  sent  a messenger  for 
gold  ; and  by  him  the  aforesaid  messenger  was  in- 
trusted with  “ seven  bars.” 

But  the  day  of  reckoning  was  at  hand.  Seriously 
aroused  by  complaints  and  threats  from  the  Great 
Mogul  of  India,  the  English  government  had  re- 
solved to  suppress  piracy.  In  March,  1697,  the 
Earl  of  Bellomont  was  appointed  governor  of 
New  York,  Massachusetts,  and  New  Hampshire, 
with  powers  of  captain-general  over  Rhode  Island 
and  Connecticut.  Shortly  afterwards  Peleg  San- 
ford was  appointed  judge  of  admiralty  for  Rhode 
Island.  In  1653,  during  the  war  with  Holland, 
the  island  of  Rhode  Island  had  established  an 
Admiralty  Court ; and  in  1694  the  colony,  as  a 
convenience  for  condemning  prizes,  had  (until  the 
king’s  pleasure  should  be  further  known)  revived 
the  institution.  When  Peleg  Sanford  presented 
his  commission  as  admiralty  judge  by  royal  ap- 
pointment, judicial  offices  conflicted.  The  gov- 
ernor, Walter  Clarke,  solved  the  point  for  the 
present  by  taking  the  Sanford  commission  and 
keeping  it. 


RHODE  ISLAND  AND  THE  SEA 


91 


In  May,  1698,  Clarke  was  succeeded  as  governor 
by  his  nephew,  Samuel  Cranston,  and  soon  Ed- 
ward Randolph,  surveyor-general  of  his  Majesty’s 
customs  in  America,  visited  Rhode  Island.  There 
followed  a series  of  stinging  dispatches  to  Cran- 
ston from  the  Lords  of  Trade  demanding  sight 
of  the  commissions  and  bonds  (mostly  non-exist- 
ent) under  which  privateers  had  been  sent  out  by 
Deputy-Governor  John  Greene,  and  notifying  the 
governor  of  the  deputing  of  Lord  Bellomont  as 
a special  agent  of  the  crown  to  inquire  into  the 
local  “ disorders  and  irregularities.” 

Bellomont’s  inquiry  was  conducted  by  himself  at 
Newport  in  September,  1699,  and  when  concluded 
an  elaborate  report  of  it  was  sent  to  the  Lords 
of  Trade.  The  report  was  scathing.  It  declared 
that  the  colony  usurped  and  exercised  admiralty 
power  contrary  to  the  charter ; that  the  prosecut- 
ing attorney  was  “ a poor,  illiterate  mechanic ; ” 
that  John  Greene,  the  deputy-governor,  was  “a 
brutish  man  of  very  corrupt  or  no  principles  in 
religion ; ” that  his  commissions  to  privateers 
were  made  out  “ to  the  captain  or  his  assignees,” 
hence  to  anybody  and  everybody ; and  finally, 
that  “ the  government  was  notoriously  faulty  in 
countenancing  and  harboring  of  pirates  who  had 
openly  brought  in  and  disposed  of  their  effects, 
whereby  the  place  had  been  greatly  enriched.” 
Cranston,  meanwhile  (awakened  to  the  peril  in 
which  the  colony  stood),  was  eating  exceedingly 


92 


RHODE  ISLAND 


humble  pie  before  both  the  Lords  of  Trade  and 
Bellomont,  — “ begging  a favorable  construction 
in  what  of  weakness  may  appear  in  us,  we  being 
a plain  and  mean  sort  of  people ; ” or,  as  he  fur- 
ther expresses  it,  “ an  ignorant  and  contemptible 
people.” 

Before  Bellomont’s  report  could  be  acted  upon, 
its  author  died  at  New  York  and  Joseph  Dudley 
was  appointed  governor  of  Massachusetts.  This 
appointment  was  made  in  1701.  It  carried  with 
it,  as  in  the  case  of  Phips  and  Bellomont,  power 
over  the  Rhode  Island  militia,  and  there  was  soon 
annexed  a power  of  vice-admiralty. 

Dudley,  in  1705,  revived  against  Rhode  Island 
Bellomont’s  charges.  But  now,  with  war  begun, 
the  disposition  of  the  home  government  to  be  criti- 
cal of  the  maritime  ethics  of  its  privateering  colony 
was  perceptibly  lessened.  Nor  should  it  be  over- 
looked that  at  this  juncture  the  London  agent  of 
Rhode  Island  was  the  accomplished  William  Penn, 
nor  that  Penn’s  relations  with  Queen  Anne  were 
those  of  a trusted  courtier. 

Clear  as  the  culpability  of  Rhode  Island  is  with 
respect  to  piracy,  one  fact  should  be  emphasized : 
no  governor  of  the  colony  was  ever  actually  caught 
trafficking  in  official  favors.  Even  Deputy-Gov- 
ernor John  Greene  — whose  explanation  to  Bello- 
mont of  the  negotiable  and  unbonded  commissions 
issued  by  him  to  Mayes,  Bankes,  and  the  others, 
was  that  the  recipients  were  good  home  folk,  hence 


RHODE  ISLAND  AND  THE  SEA 


93 


presumably  sans  reproche  as  they  certainly  were 
sans  peur  — probably  gained  little  by  bis  malle- 
ability. In  the  early  eighteenth  century  piracy  was 
rife  all  along  the  Atlantic  coast,  and  Ehode  Island 
sustained  to  it  relations  less  odious  than  did  New 
York  or  the  Carolinas.1 

1 Extracts  from  the  official  correspondence  of  Lord  Bello- 
mont  and  of  Governor  Benjamin  Fletcher : — 

“ I find  that  those  Pyrates  that  have  given  the  greatest  disturb- 
ance in  the  East  Indies  and  Red  Sea,  have  been  either  fitted  from 
New  York  or  Rhode  Island,  and  mann’d  from  New  York.  . . . 
And  Captn  Tew  that  had  been  before  a most  notorious  Pirate 
(complained  of  by  the  East  India  Company)  on  his  retume  from 
the  Indies  with  great  riches  made  a visit  to  New  York,  where 
(although  a man  of  most  mean  and  infamous  character)  he  was 
received  and  caressed  by  Coll : Fletcher,  and  they  exchanged  pre- 
sents, as  gold  watches  ettc,  with  one  another,”  etc.  [New  York, 
May  8, 1698,  Bellomont  to  the  Lords  of  Trade.  N.  Y.  Col.  Docs. 
vol.  iv,  p.  306.] 

“ I am  informed  by  Mr  Randolph,  Surveyor  General  of  the 
Customs,  that  R.  I.  pretends  to  a Jurisdiction  of  a Court  of  Ad- 
miralty, and  that  they  have  seized  a pirate  there  with  his  money 
and  designe  to  try  him  and  perhaps  acquitt  him.  I know  not  yet 
what  priviledge  they  have  by  their  Charter,  but  I am  well  in- 
formed what  constant  encouragement  they  give  to  Pirates  to  come 
in  there,  and  bring  in  their  spoils,  and  likewise  what  connivance 
is  made  to  the  breach  of  all  the  Acts  of  Trade,  and  from  thence 
it  may  be  concluded  that  there  will  be  but  very  faint  prosecu- 
tions in  a Court  of  Admty  of  their  owne  enacting,”  etc.  [New 
York,  July  1,  1698,  Bellomont  to  the  Lords  of  Trade.  N.  Y.  Col. 
Docs.  vol.  iv,  p.  334.] 

“We  are  very  sensible  of  what  your  Lordship  writes  about 
the  partiality  and  favour  to  pirates  in  R.  I.”  [Oct.  25,  1698, 
Lords  of  Trade  to  Bellomont.  N.  Y.  Col.  Docs.  vol.  iv,  p. 
414.] 

“ Capt  Tew  had  formaly  rec’d  a commsn  from  the  Govr  of 


94 


RHODE  ISLAND 


With  the  passing  of  the  peril  from  Bellomont 
and  Dudley,  Rhode  Island  for  the  most  part  set- 

Bermuda  [so]  I granted  him  a third  to  make  warr  upon  the 
French,”  etc. 

“ This  Tew  appeared  to  me  not  only  a man  of  courage  and  ac- 
tivity, but  of  the  greatest  sence  and  remembrance  of  what  he  had 
seen,  of  any  seaman  I had  mett.  He  was  allso  what  they  call  a 
very  pleasnt  man,  so  that  at  some  times  when  the  labours  of  my 
day  were  over  it  was  some  divertisment  as  well  as  information  to 
me,  to  heare  him  talke.  I wish’d  in  my  mind  to  make  him  a 
sober  man,  and  in  particular  to  reclaime  him  from  a vile  habit  of 
swearing.  I gave  him  a booke  to  that  purpose  ; and  to  gain  the 
more  upon  him  a gunn  of  some  value.  In  returne  hereof  he  made 
me  also  a present  which  was  a curiosity  and  in  value  not  much  ; 
and  this  is  the  sum  of  all  the  kindness  I am  chged  with,”  etc. 
[Dec.  24,  1698,  Col.  Benj.  Fletcher’s  answer  to  charges.  N.  Y. 
Col.  Docs.  vol.  iv,  p.  446.] 

“ Preparations  [have]  some  while  [been]  mak’g  of  sending  a 
squadron  of  ships  of  Warr  to  suppress  them  [the  pirates]  there 
[at  Madagascar]  and  at  Sta  Maria.”  [Jan.  5, 1698-99,  Lords  of 
Trade  to  Bellomont.  N.  Y.  Col.  Docs.  vol.  iv,  p.  454.] 

“ Jos.  Bradish  born  at  Cambridge  near  Boston.  Ran  away  with 
ship  Adventure  an  interloper  to  East  Indies.  Came  to  East  end 
of  Nassau  Isl  [Long  Island]  & sunk  the  ship  between  that  & 
Block  Isl  — a ship  of  abt  400  tons.  B.  left  money  with  Lt  Col. 
Peirson  £942,19,3  — gave  govr  of  R.  I.  notice  where  the  money 
concealed,  which  I heare  he  has  since  secured,  Block  Isl  being  in 
his  government.  Some  of  the  men  who  ran  away  with  the  ship 
went  out  with  Tew.”  [New  York,  May  3,  1699,  Bellomont  to 
Lords  of  Trade.  N.  Y.  Col.  Docs.  vol.  iv,  p.  512.] 

“ I send  you  the  speech  of  Mr  Cranston  Gov  of  R.  I.  to  the  As- 
sembly there  about  a fortnight  since,  wich  you  may  please  show 
to  the  Lds  of  Trade  as  a specimen  of  the  Temper  of  the  people. 
’Tis  an  original  for  Insolence  and  Nonsense.  I do  not  mention  it 
in  any  of  my  letters  to  their  Ldships,  etc.  But  that  I know  that 
Govmt  and  People  to  be  the  most  piraticall  in  the  Kings  Domin- 
ions.” [Boston,  Sept.  15,  1699,  Bellomont  to  Sec.  Popple.  N.  Y. 
Col.  Docs.  vol.  iv,  p.  586.] 


RHODE  ISLAND  AND  THE  SEA 


95 


tied  down  to  tlie  practice  of  legitimate  privateer- 
ing : henceforth  pirates,  when  caught,  were  hanged. 
In  Queen  Anne’s  War  the  most  distinguished 
privateersmen  were  the  Newport  Wantons.  The 
founder  of  this  family  was  Edward  Wanton,  a 
Massachusetts  man  converted  to  Quakerism  by 
sight  of  the  stark  bodies  of  Quakers  dangling  on 
Boston  Common.  Two  of  Edward’s  sons,  William 
and  John,  removed  to  Newport  and  established 
themselves  in  ship-building.  They  were  hardy  and 
resourceful,  with  a natural  aptitude  for  the  sea, 
and  just  before  the  Peace  of  Ryswick,  which  ended 
King  William’s  War,  performed  with  a volunteer 
crew  the  daring  feat  of  getting  alongside  a twenty- 
gun  French  privateer  which  had  been  harrying  the 
coast  and  boarding  and  capturing  her.  For  this 
service,  and  for  the  capture  (in  1702)  of  three 
armed  French  vessels  in  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence, 
the  brothers  were  summoned  to  England  and 
made  the  recipients  of  flattering  attention  by  the 
court. 

The  Wantons  _were  valiant,  yet  in  the  family 
character  there  evidently  lurked  something  of  the 
spirit  of  mischievous  perversity.  It  was  brother 

“ I formerly  acquainted  your  Ldships  that  Nassaw  Isl  alias 
Long  Isl  was  become  a great  Receptacle  for  Pirates ; I am  since 
more  confirm’d  that  ’tis  so.  Gillam  a notorious  pirate  was  suffered 
to  escape  thither  from  R.  I.  and  tis  believed  he  is  still  there.  . . . 
I take  that  Isl  especially  the  East  End  of  it  to  exceed  R.  I.” 
[Oct.  20,  1699,  Bellomont  to  Lords  of  Trade.  N.  Y.  Col.  Docs. 
vol.  iv,  p.  591.] 


96 


RHODE  ISLAND 


John,  magistrate,  that  in  1719  arbitrarily  impris- 
oned Nathaniel  Kay,  the  king’s  collector,  in  the 
royal  custom-house.  It  was  brother  John,  deputy- 
governor,  that  in  1731  reconvened  the  General 
Assembly  to  discuss  Governor  Jenckes’s  veto  of 
the  paper  money  bill  after  the  governor  himself 
had  declined  to  act.  Ultimately  the  unpredictable 
John  — following  his  father’s  example  — turned 
Quaker;  but  not  a whit  the  less  for  that  did  he 
continue  a fighting  servant  of  the  crown.  As  gov- 
ernor from  1734  to  1740  he  issued  commissions  to 
privateers,  with  a chuckle  at  the  scandal  thus 
created.  Admonition  he  met  with  the  dry  remark, 
that  “in  all  concerns  he  had  listened  to  the  still 
small  voice  of  divine  emanation,  and  been  obedient 
thereto.” 

Queen  Anne’s  War  was  brought  to  a close  in 
1713  with  the  signing  of  the  Peace  of  Utrecht. 
In  1714  the  queen  herself  died.  The  next  year 
she  was  followed  to  the  grave  by  the  great  Louis, 
her  own  long-time  enemy  and  the  ancient  enemy 
of  King  William  and  of  Marlborough.  Until  1739 
there  was  unwonted  repose  among  the  nations. 
Then,  under  George  II,  there  broke  forth  against 
Spain  the  War  of  Jenkins’  Ear.  In  1744  France 
went  to  the  aid  of  Spain.  Thereupon  the  conflict 
became  known  as  the  War  of  the  Austrian  Suc- 
cession, or  King  George’s  War,  and  the  Rhode 
Island  privateers,  which  meanwhile  had  been  do- 


RHODE  ISLAND  AND  THE  SEA 


97 


ing  service  merely  as  trading  craft,  renewed  their 
armaments  and  put  to  sea.  But  as  this  war  in  a 
naval  way  had  an  important  official  as  well  as 
privateering  phase,  it  will  be  well  to  consider  the 
official  phase  of  it  first. 

It  is  an  interesting  circumstance  that  the  first 
lord  of  the  admiralty  under  the  Walpole  govern- 
ment— the  government  responsible  for  the  Span- 
ish War  — was  Sir  Charles  Wager,  for  as  a lad 
Wager  had  lived  in  Newport  with  John  Hull. 
While  with  Hull  the  youth  had  shown  such  re- 
markable talent  for  the  sea  that  he  had  been  taken 
into  the  royal  navy.  Here  he  had  risen  through 
the  grades  of  captain  and  of  rear-  and  vice-admiral. 
In  1718  he  had  passed  into  civil  office  as  a lord  of 
the  admiralty.  In  1738  he  had  been  made  first 
lord,  — a position  which  he  held  at  the  outbreak  of 
the  hostilities  now  under  review.  Sir  Charles  was 
much  regarded  by  Rhode  Islanders.  His  brilliant 
career  served  to  fire  their  seafaring  natures  with 
restless  zeal  against  both  Spain  and  France. 

The  chief  naval  provision  now  (1740)  made  by 
the  colony  was  the  construction  of  the  Tartar,  a 
twenty-six  gun  sloop  capable  of  berthing  a hun- 
dred men.  This  vessel,  sometimes  alone  and  at 
other  times  in  company  with  the  Connecticut  col- 
ony sloop  Defence,  patrolled  the  coasts  from  Long 
Island  to  Martha’s  Vineyard  and  effected  a num- 
ber of  captures.  The  Tartar  served  as  convoy  in 
the  fruitless  Cuban  expedition  of  1741,  but  its 


98 


RHODE  ISLAND 


principal  service  was  performed  in  1745,  under 
Captain  Daniel  Fones,  against  Louisburg. 

Rhode  Island  was  of  the  opinion  that  the  Louis- 
burg expedition  — the  project  of  Governor  Wil- 
liam Shirley  of  Massachusetts  — was  a piece  of 
reckless  folly.  As  Governor  Gideon  Wanton  said, 
“ The  scheme  [which  was  carried  by  but  a single 
vote  at  Boston]  supposed  the  concurrence  of  many 
accidents,  the  consequences  of  any  one  of  which 
failing  would  be  fatal ; the  pretense  to  surprise 
such  a town  at  such  a distance  with  such  a fleet 
and  army  appear’d  to  us  ...  a most  vain  expec- 
tation. ...  As  there  was  not  to  be  one  experi- 
enced officer  or  soldier  . . . nor  one  engineer  in 
the  whole  army,  we  could  not  avoid  reflecting  on 
the  fatal  miscarriages  at  Augustine  and  Cartha- 
gena.”  Shirley  had  a faith  which  Rhode  Island 
lacked,  and  the  following  thrust  by  him  in  a letter 
to  Governor  William  Greene  is  not  wanting  in 
keenness  : “ I must  acknowledge,  Sir,  when  I con- 
sider’d what  frequent  and  very  large  emissions  of 
paper  bills  of  credit  your  assembly  has  of  late 
made  for  the  conveniencv  of  the  inhabitants  of 
your  colony,  ...  I could  not  entertain  the  least 
doubt  but  that  it  would  have  made  one  emission 
for  his  majesty’s  service.” 

Although  somewhat  retarded  by  convoy  duty, 
the  Tartar  reached  Louisburg  on  April  25,  1745. 
On  the  way  the  sloop  had  fallen  in  with  his  Cath- 
olic Majesty’s  ship  Renommde  of  thirty-six  guns, 


RHODE  ISLAND  AND  THE  SEA 


99 


bringing  dispatches  from  France,  and  Fones  had 
been  compelled  to  run  the  gauntlet  of  four  broad- 
sides in  order  to  avoid  capture.  In  J une  the  plucky 
captain  was  sent  with  the  Tartar  and  two  consorts 
to  intercept  a body  of  French  and  Indians  which, 
to  the  number  of  some  twelve  hundred,  were 
approaching  in  a fleet  of  sloops,  schooners,  and 
canoes  to  the  relief  of  the  fortress.  He  met  his 
enemy  in  Femme  Goose  Bay  and  beat  them  pre- 
cipitately back. 

The  next  year  (1746)  the  Tartar  was  held  in 
readiness  to  convoy  Rhode  Island’s  quota  in  the 
third  great  expedition  planned  by  the  colonies 
against  Canada  ; but  to  such  a design  the  French, 
by  a dramatic  and  wholly  unforeseen  movement, 
put  an  end. 

On  the  6th  of  September,  the  Kinsale,  one  of 
Vice-Admiral  Townsend’s  fleet  off  Louisburg, 
brought  into  port  a prize  — La  Judith.  The  mas- 
ter, Antony  Rodinguez,  stated  that  on  the  22d  of 
June  he  had  left  Rochelle  in  company  with  a fleet 
of  seventy  sail,  men-of-war  and  transports;  that 
the  former  consisted  of  fourteen  ships  of  the  line 
of  from  fifty  to  seventy-four  guns  each ; that  the 
transports  carried  eight  thousand  troops  ; and  that 
the  entire  force  was  under  the  command  of  the  Due 
d’Anville.  The  news  was  at  once  forwarded  to 
Governor  Shirley,  and  by  him  in  turn,  on  Septem- 
ber 22,  to  Governor  William  Greene  at  Newport. 
Shirley’s  message  was  accompanied  by  a declaration 


100 


RHODE  ISLAND 


by  Rene  Het  (a  merchant  of  New  York)  that  it 
had  been  learned  from  the  captain  of  a French 
prize  that  Admiral  Conflans,  while  at  Petit  Gouave 
in  Hispaniola,  had  taken  from  a fleet  of  merchant- 
men under  convoy  by  him  all  the  masters  and  pilots 
acquainted  with  North  American  waters,  and  that, 
putting  others  in  their  room,  he  had  sailed  away. 
What  the  two  statements  — Rodinguez’s  and  Het’s 
— meant  was  that  D ’ Anville  and  Conflans  were  to 
rendezvous  somewhere  to  the  north,  and,  united,  to 
make  a descent  upon  Louisburg. 

In  the  midst  of  the  excitement  resulting  from 
this  disclosure  Fones  and  the  Tartar  were  sent  out, 
at  the  request  of  Governor  Shirley,  to  meet  if  pos- 
sible Admiral  Lestock,  who  was  daily  expected  at 
Louisburg  from  Spithead  with  a body  of  troops, 
and  to  warn  him  of  D’Anville’s  approach.  Orders 
were  that  until  October  25  Fones  was  to  cruise 
to  the  southward  of  Nova  Scotia  with  sealed  dis- 
patches for  the  admiral.  If  the  Tartar  should  be 
taken  by  the  French,  Fones  was  to  destroy  his  dis- 
patches, “by  no  means  suffering  them  to  fall  into 
the  enemy’s  hands.”  But  the  plans  of  French  and 
English  alike  came  all  to  naught.  As  it  chanced, 
Conflans  had  reached  Halifax  (the  stipulated  ren- 
dezvous) early  in  September.  Not  finding  D’ An- 
ville, he  had  sailed  for  home.  A terrible  gale  had 
arisen  and  the  fleet  of  D’Anville  had  been  badly 
shattered.  To  complicate  things  still  more,  D’An- 
ville had  been  stricken  down  with  apoplexy  and 


RHODE  ISLAND  AND  THE  SEA  101 

had  died.  His  second  in  command,  D’Estournel, 
overcome  with  horror  at  the  situation,  had  literally 
fallen  upon  his  sword,  and  the  third  officer,  La 
Jonquiere,  had  conducted  the  fleet,  battered  and 
pestilence  ridden,  back  to  France.  The  Tartar, 
meanwhile,  sought  in  vain  for  Lestock ; that  officer 
was  yet  upon  the  English  coast. 

In  1748,  upon  the  conclusion  of  peace  at  Aix,  the 
Tartar  — the  Old  Ironsides  of  Rhode  Island  — 
was  put  up  at  auction  (that  melancholy  limbo  of 
so  much  that  is  historic)  and  sold  to  the  highest 
bidder. 

The  privateering  phase  of  King  George’s  War 
was  brilliant  in  the  extreme.  After  twenty-six  years 
of  quiet  the  king  had  authorized  Rhode  Island  to 
issue  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal.  The  streets  of 
Newport,  therefore,  were  thronged  with  seamen  in 
quest  of  adventures  and  prize  money.  Shirley  com- 
plained roundly  that  the  Boston  sailors  all  fled  to 
Newport  to  avoid  impressment  for  Cape  Breton, 
and  the  complaint  was  in  great  part  just.  Rhode 
Island,  too,  was  highly  cautious  about  restrain- 
ing the  practice,  for  privateering  was  a principal 
source  of  wealth  to  its  people.  The  Malbones,  the 
Browns,  the  Wantons,  the  Ayraults,  the  Freebodys 
— Newport  merchants  who  had  gained  wealth  in 
the  West  India  trade  — converted  their  fast  sailing 
ships  into  armed  cruisers,  or  built  ships  especially 
for  cruising,  and  sent  them  out  (brigantines  and 


102 


RHODE  ISLAND 


brigs),  a dozen  or  fifteen  in  a year,  to  prey  upon 
Spanish  and  French  commerce. 

There  were  the  Triton,  the  Victory,  the  Defiance, 
the  Caesar,  the  Mary,  the  King  George,  the  Young 
Godfrey,  the  Prince  Frederic,  the  Prince  Charles 
of  Lorraine,  and  a host  more.  Each  had  its  own 
favorite  ground  of  operations.  Silently,  beautifully, 
yet  withal  grimly,  they  dropped  one  by  one  out  of 
the  harbor : some  for  the  shrouding  fogs  of  the 
Newfoundland  Banks ; some  for  the  straits  and 
channels  of  the  Leeward  Islands  ; some  for  Mada- 
gascar and  the  Red  Sea.  If  to  watch  the  departure 
was  interesting,  it  was  thrilling  to  watch  the  re- 
turn. Within  hulls  scarred  in  fight  and  beaten  by 
weather  there  lurked  one  knew  not  what  treasures 
of  silks  or  “ Kirman  ” wool,  of  gold,  wines,  or  ivory. 
In  1746,  22,500  pieces-of-eight  were  brought  back 
by  the  Defiance  — John  Dennis,  captain.  As  early 
as  1744,  wealth  had  been  garnered  by  the  Prince 
Charles  under  Captain  Simeon  Potter.  In  the  lat- 
ter case  it  took  the  form  to  some  extent  of  sacred 
plate  rifled  from  churches  along  the  Spanish  Main. 
The  tale  of  the  despoiling  of  one  of  these  churches 
— that  of  Oyapoc  — has  been  told  by  a Jesuit  mis- 
sionary, Father  Fauque,  in  a letter  to  his  superior. 
The  good  priest  (he  was  of  exceptional  charity) 
finds  excuse  for  the  avariciousness  of  his  Yankee 
enemy  in  the  fact  that  “ Rodelon  [as  he  calls 
Rhode  Island]  was  a kind  of  little  republic  which 
did  not  pay  tribute  to  the  King  of  England,  which 


RHODE  ISLAND  AND  THE  SEA 


103 


elected  its  governor  every  year  and  which  had  not 
even  any  silver  money  but  only  notes  for  daily 
commerce .” 

Sometimes  privateers  went  forth  and  did  not 
return.  In  1745,  on  the  day  before  Christmas, 
there  sailed  from  Newport  for  the  Spanish  Main 
two  large  vessels  owned  in  part  by  Godfrey  Mal- 
bone  and  manned  by  four  hundred  men.  They 
were  met  by  a fierce  “ northeaster  ” accompanied 
by  snow,  were  never  heard  of  afterwards,  and 
nearly  two  hundred  Newport  women  were  left  dis- 
consolate. Then  there  often  was  stiff  resistance  to 
be  encountered.  Captain  John  Dennis  was  the 
chief  hero  in  such  affairs.  In  January,  1746,  he, 
while  cruising  in  the  West  Indies  with  the  Defi- 
ance, came  up  with  a French  ship  of  twenty  guns, 
attended  by  two  lesser  craft.  He  boarded  the  ship, 
losing  fifteen  killed  and  fifteen  wounded  in  the 
operation,  but  was  rewarded  with  five  hundred 
hogsheads  of  sugar  and  fifty-seven  of  indigo.  It 
was  Dennis  who,  at  this  period,  got  the  Rhode 
Island  government  into  trouble  with  the  governor 
of  Havana  by  carrying  to  Newport  and  selling  into 
slavery  (because  of  their  mulatto  complexions) 
twenty  - two  free  Spaniards.  In  retaliation  the 
Spanish  governor,  securing  one  of  Dennis’s  prize 
crews,  shut  them  up ; treating  them,  as  they  in- 
dignantly wrote,  with  more  brutality  than  any 
slaves.  An  exchange  was  soon  happily  effected. 
The  deeply  insulted  freemen  of  Spain  were  bought 


104 


RHODE  ISLAND 


back  from  their  Yankee  subjection  by  the  owners 
of  the  Defiance  and  of  the  Duke  of  Marlboro’  (a 
privateer  involved  with  the  Defiance),  and  sent  to 
Cuba  in  a flag  of  truce. 

Dennis’s  crowning  exploit  was  performed  in 
1747  near  the  island  of  Martinique.  His  name 
had  become  a terror  to  French  traders,  and  the  offi- 
cials at  Fort  de  France  sent  out  a vessel  of  four- 
teen guns  and  one  hundred  and  forty  men  to  make 
an  end  of  him.  After  a four  hours’  conflict,  in 
which  Dennis  himself  was  slightly  wounded,  he 
took  his  would-be  captor  captive  and  sailed  with 
her  proudly  to  St.  Kitts. 

Rhode  Island,  after  the  Bellomont  and  Dudley 
period,  was  guilty  of  little  that  could  be  called 
piracy.  Nevertheless  that  ingrained  spirit  of  in- 
dividualism which  showed  itself  on  land  in  the 
policy  (persistently  maintained)  of  an  irredeema- 
ble paper  currency,  and  of  which  the  colony’s 
marked  freebooting  tendencies  may  also  be  con- 
sidered an  indication,  was  not  easily  tamed.  Dur- 
ing King  George’s  War,  flags  of  truce  (vessels 
bearing  to  the  French  islands  French  prisoners  to 
be  exchanged  for  English  ones)  were  systemat- 
ically made  use  of  to  carry  not  alone  prisoners 
but  provisions,  thus  giving  direct  aid  and  comfort 
to  the  enemy.  In  1748,  no  less  than  twenty  such 
fraudulent  “ flags  ” left  Newport.  Colonel  Robert 
Rogers,  the  celebrated  scout  of  the  French  and 
Indian  wars,  boldly  declares  that  the  Rhode 


RHODE  ISLAND  AND  THE  SEA 


105 


Islanders  would  divide  a company  of  prisoners 
among  a whole  fleet  of  flags  of  truce,  and  then 
with  official  connivance  send  to  the  enemy  arti- 
cles more  welcome  than  all  the  prisoners,  or  than 
would  have  been  the  ship  and  cargo  originally 
taken. 

In  the  war  with  France  that  began  in  1754 
(technically  1756) — the  Old  French,  or  Seven 
Years,  War  — Rhode  Island  did  nothing  at  sea  as 
a colony.  On  land  its  quotas  were  kept  well  filled, 
and  at  Lake  George,  Fort  William  Henry,  Ticon- 
deroga,  and  Fort  Frontenac  (as  also  in  1762  at 
Havana)  it  gave  a good  account  of  itself.  But 
while  at  this  juncture  putting  in  commission  no 
Tartar,  the  colony,  besides  furnishing  seamen  to 
the  royal  navy,  commissioned  over  sixty  privateers 
carrying  fifteen  hundred  men,  and  repeated  the 
triumphs  of  former  years.  Now,  though,  by  reason 
of  the  growth  of  commerce,  the  losses  in  merchant- 
men were  heavy.  Providence  (which  since  1740 
had  come  rapidly  forward)  lost  nearly  fifty  vessels, 
and  Newport  more  than  one  hundred.  Possibly  the 
greatest  loss  of  all  was  not  that  of  any  merchant- 
men but  of  the  privateer  Foy  with  bold  John  Den- 
nis in  command.  Whether  this  loss  was  by  tempest 
or  by  the  enemy  was  never  known.  Neither  ship 
nor  commander  was  heard  of  after  August,  1756. 
In  the  war  of  the  Revolution  William  Dennis,  a 
son  of  John,  commanded  successively  thirteen  pri- 
vateers. Stronger  proof  there  could  not  well  be 


106 


RHODE  ISLAND 


that  the  wonderful  privateering  of  Rhode  Island 
led  (among  other  things)  to  an  American  navy, 
— to  a Talbot,  to  a Whipple,  to  a Hopkins,  to  the 
Decaturs,  and  to  the  Perrys. 


CHAPTER  V 


THE  GOLDEN  AGE  OF  NEWPORT 
( Commerce ) 

Sugar  and  Molasses  — The  Slave  Trade  — Merchant  Magnates 
— Slaveholding  — The  Jews  as  Merchants. 

A more  immediate  result  of  the  sea  power  of 
Rhode  Island  was  the  rise  into  commercial,  social, 
and  intellectual  importance  of  the  town  of  New- 
port. 

By  1675  the  exportation  from  Rhode  Island 
(from  Newport  especially)  of  lumber,  horses,  pork, 
butter,  and  cheese  had  become  considerable.  At 
Barbadoes  and  Nevis  these  commodities  were  ex- 
changed for  sugar  and  molasses ; and  in  sugar  and 
molasses  the  future  of  Newport  became  bound  up. 
That  is  to  say,  the  future  of  this  mart  became  thus 
bound  up  for  all  of  the  seventeenth  century  and 
for  a part  of  the  eighteenth.  With  the  waxing 
of  the  eighteenth  century  the  slave  trade  arose, 
and  thereupon  Newport’s  future  became  bound  up 
with  it. 

By  means  of  the  reports  of  the  colony  governors 
to  the  Lords  of  Trade  the  evolution  of  the  island 
of  Rhode  Island  from  the  agricultural  stage  into 


108 


RHODE  ISLAND 


the  commercial  may  be  readily  traced.  In  a report 
made  by  Peleg  Sanford  in  1680  we  are  told  that 
there  were  then  in  the  colony  no  merchants  nor 
“ men  of  considerable  estates ; ” that  there  was 
“ no  shippinge  ” save  a few  sloops  ; and  that  no 
customs  duties  were  imposed.  Twenty-eight  years 
later  the  story  is  quite  a different  one.  In  1708, 
Governor  Samuel  Cranston  made  report  that  the 
colony  within  a decade  had  built  one  hundred  and 
three  vessels.  Of  these  it  possessed  twenty-nine 
itself,  and  by  means  of  them  a brisk  trade  was  car- 
ried on  with  Jamaica,  Barbadoes,  and  Nevis ; with 
the  Bermudas  and  the  Bahamas  ; with  Madeira  and 
Cura^oa ; and  with  the  American  settlements  from 
Massachusetts  to  South  Carolina.  The  articles  im- 
ported were  sugar,  molasses,  cotton,  indigo,  wool- 
ens, linens,  salt,  rum,  wines,  cocoa,  rigging,  and 
iron.  A naval  officer  had  been  regularly  appointed 
by  the  governor  since  1681.  At  the  date  of  the 
Cranston  report  the  population  of  the  colony  was 
7181.  Newport  led  with  2203,  of  whom  220  were 
negroes  ; Providence  came  next  with  1446,  of  whom 
seven  were  negroes ; and  third  came  Kingstown 
(the  Narragansett  country)  with  1200,  of  whom 
the  negroes  were  85. 

As  regards  Newport,  the  most  significant  state- 
ment by  Cranston  is  that  now  for  a considerable 
period  the  land  of  the  island  had  all  been  “ taken 
up  and  improved  in  small  farms,”  a condition 
which  had  compelled  later  generations  to  betake 


THE  GOLDEN  AGE  OF  NEWPORT  109 

themselves  to  the  sea.  It  was  from  this  cause  that 
ship-building  had  been  developed.  From  this  cause, 
too,  there  were  beginning  to  appear  those  “mer- 
chants,” those  “ men  of  considerable  estates  ” the 
lack  of  whom  in  1680  was  dolefully  recorded  by 
Peleg  Sanford.  The  sugar  and  molasses  which 
ever  since  1660  had  been  coming  into  Newport 
were  distilled  there  into  New  England  rum,  and 
this  article  (together  with  candles  made  from  tallow 
or  oil  substances)  found  a market  throughout  the 
West  Indies.  By  1731,  when  Governor  Joseph 
Jenckes  made  his  report  to  the  Lords  of  Trade, 
it  is  evident  that  sugar  and  molasses  on  the  one 
hand,  and  rum  on  the  other,  were  the  staples  of 
Newport,  and  so  of  Rhode  Island,  prosperity. 

Newport  consisted  now  of  four  hundred  houses. 
It  had  passed  beyond  the  time  (1707)  when,  as 
the  town  records  inform  us,  the  streets  were  at  the 
mercy  of  filth  precipitated  from  stables  and  sinks  to 
“ ye  spoyling  and  damnifying  of  peoples  Apparill.” 
In  1731  the  centre  of  life  was  “the  parade” 
(Washington  Square),  at  the  head  of  which  stood 
the  Colony  House.  Into  the  parade  Thames  Street 
opened,  and  from  it  there  projected  westwardly 
into  the  old  town  cove  a wharf  — Long  Wharf. 
The  principal  dwellings  were  about  the  parade  and 
on  Thames  Street.  Along  the  wharves  were  ware- 
houses and  sailors’  boarding-houses,  together  with 
the  shops  of  venders  of  anchors  and  cordage  and 
of  sail-makers,  caulkers,  and  shipwrights.  Long 


110 


RHODE  ISLAND 


Wharf  was  largely  the  scene  of  the  activities  of 
Newport’s  four  hundred  seamen.  From  this  station 
there  passed  out  to  sea  the  colony’s  ten  or  twelve 
sail  that  each  year  visited  Surinam,  St.  Eustatia, 
and  St.  Thomas  ; and  the  one  or  two  that  ranged 
as  far  as  Genoa,  Leghorn,  Holland,  or  the  British 
Isles.  At  this  station  there  were  unloaded  the 
duck,  cordage,  broadcloths,  serges,  hollands,  thread, 
laces,  needles,  pins,  tape,  scythes,  and  iron-ware 
brought  in  coasters  from  Boston. 

The  prosperity  thus  indicated,  and  a like  pros- 
perity indicated  by  the  crowded  wharves  of  Boston 
— all  based  on  sugar  and  molasses  — was  by  no 
means  relished  by  the  English  sugar  planters  of 
the  West  Indies — of  Jamaica,  Barbadoes,  An- 
tigua, and  Nevis.  These  planters  were  desirous  of 
exclusively  supplying  the  northern  colonial  mar- 
ket; and  when  they  found  themselves  (as  in  1731 
they  constantly  did)  anticipated  by  the  Dutch  of 
Surinam  and  St.  Eustatia,  they  complained  loudly 
to  the  Lords  of  Trade.  By  the  latter,  in  1731, 
steps  began  to  be  taken  toward  the  imposition  of 
a sugar  duty.  The  agent  for  Bhode  Island  in 
London  was  Richard  Partridge  (a  successor  to 
William  Penn  and,  like  him,  a Quaker),  and,  be- 
tween 1731  and  1733,  he  did  what  he  could  by 
representation  and  petition  to  defeat  the  projected 
measure.  It  was,  he  pointed  out,  the  profits  of  the 
trade  in  sugar  and  molasses  that  enabled  Rhode 
Island  merchants  to  purchase  English  manufac- 


THE  GOLDEN  AGE  OF  NEWPORT  111 


tured  goods.  All,  however,  was  to  no  avail,  and  in 
1733  a law  went  into  effect  imposing  9d.  per  gallon 
on  rum  and  5s.  per  hundredweight  on  sugar.  This 
law  was  continued  without  modification  down  to 
1764. 

It  was  while  the  Sugar  Act  was  pending  that 
Governor  Jenckes  submitted  his  query  regarding 
the  veto  power  (if  any)  which  pertained  to  his 
office,  and  Partridge  was  highly  concerned  lest  the 
query  should  complicate  Rhode  Island’s  position 
toward  the  act.  But  when  at  length  the  act  was 
about  to  pass,  the  agent  — a man  evidently  of  con- 
viction as  well  as  of  circumspection — prophetically 
wrote : “ I am  of  opinion  if  such  a Law  take  place 
(besides  the  present  Injury  it  will  do),  it  will  be 
rather  worse  in  the  consequence  of  it  than  the  Bill 
of  prohibition  last  year,  because  of  the  levying  a 
subsidy  upon  a Free  People  without  their  know- 
ledge agst  their  consent,  who  have  the  libertys  and 
Immunitys  granted  them  of  Natural  born  Subjects, 
and  when  they  have  enough  to  do  to  raise  Taxes 
for  their  own  Support ; besides  it  may  be  drawn 
into  a President  for  the  future,  for  by  the  same 
Rule  that  a British  Parliamt  imposes  a duty  on 
the  King’s  Subjects  abroad,  who  have  no  Repre- 
sentatives in  the  state  here,  they  may  from  4/  ad- 
vance to  20/  — to  £100,  on  different  things,  and 
so  ad  infinitum,  which  is  an  Infringement  on  Lib- 
erty and  Property  and  as  I apprehend  a violation 
of  the  Right  of  the  Subject.” 


112 


RHODE  ISLAND 


The  law  against  human  slavery,  passed  by  the 
mainland  towns  of  Rhode  Island  in  1652,  expressed 
the  sentiment  of  the  northern  part  of  the  colony. 
It  may  be  doubted  whether  it  expressed  the  sen- 
timent of  the  southern  part  then  under  an  inde- 
pendent government.  Whether  it  did  or  not,  it  did 
not  do  so  after  that  part  had  (about  1700)  begun 
to  exchange  agriculture  for  commerce.  Yet  even 
the  slave  trade  was  divisible  into  varieties.  There 
was  the  respectable  or,  as  it  has  been  called,  “ gen- 
teel ” variety  lasting  throughout  the  period  when 
the  traffic  was  legal  — the  first  three  quarters  of 
the  eighteenth  century.  There  also  was  the  out- 
lawed and  piratical  variety  lasting  to  the  middle 
of  the  nineteenth  century.  Newport  was  concerned 
with  both  varieties,  but  it  was  the  “ genteel  ” 
variety  that  built  up  its  fortunes. 

By  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht,  concluded  between 
Queen  Anne  and  Louis  XIV  on  April  11,  1713, 
England  obtained  the  Hudson  Bay  territory,  Aca- 
dia, Newfoundland,  and  Gibraltar.  Further,  there 
was  obtained  an  assignment  of  the  Assiento  — a 
contract  with  Spain  on  the  part  of  a French  cor- 
poration, called  the  French  Guinea  Company, 
whereby  forty-eight  hundred  African  slaves  were 
to  be  landed  each  year  in  Spanish  America  for 
thirty  years.  The  execution  of  the  contract  was 
intrusted  by  England  to  a company,  called  the 
Royal  African,  which,  besides  paying  a large 
sum  to  Spain  in  cash,  was  to  divide  one  half  its 


THE  GOLDEN  AGE  OF  NEWPORT 


113 


profits  annually  between  the  Spanish  and  British 
kings.  But  so  much  fault  was  found  with  this 
monopoly  by  Parliament  that  it  was  deemed  ad- 
visable to  continue  the  former  practice  of  admit- 
ting private  persons  to  the  benefits  of  the  trade, 
on  the  payment  of  a duty  of  ten  per  cent  on  all 
goods  sent  by  them  to  Africa  to  be  exchanged  for 
negroes. 

The  overthrow  of  the  Assiento  monopoly  was 
followed  by  an  immense  expansion  in  the  slave  busi- 
ness. Prior  to  1708  Rhode  Island  had  imported 
but  one  human  cargo  from  Africa.  It  came  in  1696, 
and  the  negroes  were  disposed  of  at  between  £30 
and  £35  per  head.  Between  1698  and  1707  ne- 
groes to  the  number  of  twenty  or  thirty  a year  were 
imported  from  Barbadoes.  They  sold  at  from  £30 
to  £40  per  head,  but  were  in  no  great  demand.  By 
1700,  however,  Rhode  Island  had  begun  to  perceive 
where  lay  the  path  to  fortune.  In  that  year,  instead 
of  importing  negroes  for  itself,  it  sent  (under  the 
tutelage  of  two  Barbadian  merchants)  three  vessels 
to  Africa  to  obtain  a cargo  of  slaves  to  be  sold  in 
Barbadoes. 

Henceforth  it  was  not  seldom  that  advantage 
was  taken  of  the  West  India  market  to  cover  the 
so-called  triangular  course : from  Newport  (with 
rum  manufactured  from  West  India  sugar  and 
molasses)  to  Africa;  from  Africa  (with  slaves 
purchased  with  this  rum)  to  the  W est  Indies  ; and, 
finally,  from  the  West  Indies  (with  more  sugar  and 


114 


RHODE  ISLAND 


molasses  purchased  with  the  proceeds  of  the  slaves) 
back  again  to  Newport.  Yet  the  business  of  home 
importation  was  not  neglected,  for  out  of  the  avails 
of  a £3  duty  levied  in  1708  upon  each  negro  im- 
ported from  Barbadoes,  provision  was  made  for 
paving  and  renovating  those  Newport  streets 
along  which  people  had  not  yet  ceased  to  fare 
to  “ye  spoyling  and  damnifying  of  [their]  Appa- 
rill.” 

But  to  resume  from  1739.  Between  that  date 
and  about  1760  the  trade  in  slaves  was  at  its  height ; 
and  as  by  means  of  the  trade  in  question  there  was 
amassed  the  wealth  which  formed  the  foundation 
of  Newport  society  and  of  Newport  culture,  an  ac- 
count of  it  will  be  of  use. 

In  1740  the  colony,  according  to  Governor  Rich- 
ard Ward,  possessed  120  sail,  “ some  on  the  coast 
of  Africa.”  By  1763  the  number  of  sail  had  in- 
creased to  184,  exclusive  of  coasters,  which  were 
352.  In  navigating  the  various  craft  there  were  em- 
ployed 2200  seamen.  Eighteen  hundred  hogsheads 
of  rum  had  for  a long  period  been  carried  annually 
to  Africa  and  exchanged  for  negroes,  gold  dust, 
and  ivory.  To  supply  the  rum  there  were  operated 
in  Newport  between  twenty  and  thirty  “ distill 
houses.”  In  a word,  between  1750  and  1760  New- 
port was  the  great  slave  mart  for  America,  as  Lon- 
don and  Bristol  were  for  England.  Its  wharves  — 
in  the  multiplicity  of  which  Long  Wharf  could 
barely  be  distinguished  — were  so  crowded  “ with 


THE  GOLDEN  AGE  OF  NEWPORT  115 

vessel  lading  for  Guinea  ” that  often,  we  are  told, 
it  was  impracticable  “ to  get  one  hogshead  of  rum 
for  the  cash.” 

A coterie  of  Newport  merchants,  let  us  suppose, 
are  about  to  send  out  two  or  three  slavers  in  the  year 
1750.  One  of  the  vessels  will  be  a new  one  built 
for  the  occasion.  The  work  of  building  probably 
will  be  done  at  Newport,  but  it  may  be  done  at 
Warren  or  Bristol — towns  among  those  acquired 
in  1747  from  Massachusetts,  and  both  eager  traders 
in  slaves.  In  freeboard  dimensions  the  new  vessel 
(according  to  the  naval  writer  Mr.  John  R.  Spears) 
will  compare  with  the  largest  “ cup  defenders  ” 
constructed  to-day  at  Bristol  by  the  Herreshoffs. 
Her  register  will  be  not  far  from  fifty  tons ; she 
will  be  rigged  as  a sloop  or  brigantine ; and  her 
approximate  cost  will  be  <£1350. 

Our  three  craft  (now  ready  for  their  cargo)  will 
be  laden  each  with  120  or  150  hogsheads  of  rum,  a 
quantity  of  provisions,  muskets,  and  powder,  and 
an  assortment  of  shackles.  There  will  still  remain 
insurance  to  be  effected,  and  this  — secured  at  a 
rate  of  eighteen  or  twenty  per  cent  — will  be  found 
to  justify  its  cost  by  the  indemnity  afforded  against 
such  hazards  (besides  fire)  as  “ men-of-war,  enemies, 
pyrates,  rovers,  thieves,  jettisons,  letters  of  mart 
and  countermart,  sorprizals,  taking  at  sea,  barratry 
of  the  master  and  marines,”  etc.  Then  the  little 
fleet  will  sail  “ bound,”  as  the  bill  of  lading  will 
piously  declare,  “ by  God’s  grace  for  the  coast  of 


116 


RHODE  ISLAND 


Africa.”  Even  yet  there  may  be  no  sailing  if  the 
horoscope  has  not  been  cast ; or  if,  on  being  cast, 
it  has  not  been  found  favorable ; for  the  captains 
of  the  day  are  nothing  if  not  superstitious,  and  will 
as  soon  think  of  quitting  port  without  a clearance 
as  without  warrant  from  a soothsayer. 

Once  on  the  coast  (at  Anamaboe  let  us  say),  the 
captains  will  summon  the  native  chiefs  or  head- 
men to  a collation  well  spiced  with  rum  and  gifts, 
and  in  return  the  chiefs  will  supply  to  the  captains 
slaves  : men,  women,  and  children  made  captive  in 
war,  or  otherwise  reduced  to  subjection.  As  fast 
as  received  the  slaves  will  be  paid  for  at  an  aver- 
age price  (per  head  of  sound  adults)  of  a hundred 
gallons  of  rum,  and  stowed  in  the  between-decks 
space,  — a space  three  feet  and  ten  inches  in 
height.  Here  the  women  and  children  will  be 
given  their  freedom,  — a freedom  to  sit  or  lie  down. 
The  men  will  be  stretched  upon  their  backs  feet 
out-board,  and  in  this  position  will  be  ironed  fast 
by  chains  or  rods.  When  a cargo  of  one  hundred 
or  one  hundred  and  twenty  negroes  for  each  ship 
has  been  collected,  the  return  voyage  or,  as  it  was 
technically  called,  the  “ middle  passage  ” will  be 
begun.  It  will  consume  from  six  to  ten  weeks  and 
terminate  at  Barbadoes,  where  the  cargo  will  be 
sold  at  a profit  of  from  <£12  to  £25  per  head.  Our 
little  coterie  of  Newport  merchants  will  (as  a 
coterie)  reap  a profit,  per  ship,  on  their  venture 
of  from  £1800  to  £2000 ; all,  too,  in  six  or  eight 


THE  GOLDEN  AGE  OF  NEWPORT  117 


months’  time,  and  without  taking  into  the  account 
the  cargo  of  ten  thousand  gallons,  or  more,  of  mo- 
lasses with  which  they  will  load  at  Barbadoes  for 
Newport. 

In  spite  of  soothsayers  and  horoscopes,  ill  luck 
occasionally  beset  a voyage.  It  was  in  view  of  an  un- 
usual bit  of  ill  luck  that  David  Lindsay  of  Newport, 
captain  of  the  brigantine  Sanderson,  wrote  from 
Anamaboe  and  Barbadoes,  in  1753,  those  delight- 
fully misspelled  letters  which  proclaim  him  (along 
with  Mrs.  Benjamin  Franklin)  a true  child  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  “ I have  Gott  13  or  14  hhds 
of  rum  yet  Left  aboard,”  wrote  the  captain  from 
Anamaboe,  “ and  God  noes  when  I shall  Gett 
clear  of  it.”  “ Ye  traid  is  so  dull  it  is  actually  arnoof 
to  make  a man  creasey.  . . on  the  whole  I never 
had  so  much  Trouble  in  all  my  voiges.”  Neverthe- 
less from  Barbadoes  he  could  write  : “ My  slaves 
is  not  landed  yet:  they  are  56  in  number  for 
owners,  all  in  helth  & fatt.  I lost  one  small  gall.” 
Not  so  bad  this,  after  all.  And  that  Captain  Lind- 
say got  his  cargo  through  “ in  helth  & Fatt,” 
only  “ one  small  gall  ” having  been  so  inconsider- 
ate as  to  die  on  his  hands,  shows  that  he  was  a 
worthy  servant  of  those  Newport  magnates  who, 
as  James  Fenimore  Cooper  tersely  phrases  it,  in 
becoming  slave-dealers  had  become  gentlemen.1 

1 “Sales  of  Forty  Seven  Negroes,  & a parcel  of  Lumber  & 
Water  Casks  imported  in  the  Brigg’a.  Sanderson,  & put  into  my 
hands  by  Captain  David  Lindsay,  on  the  proper  account  and 


118 


RHODE  ISLAND 


The  magnates  at  Newport  between  1730  and 
1770  — while  the  town  was  advancing  in  popula- 
tion from  five  to  nine  thousand  souls  — who  were 
they  ? 

There  had  just  died  (1727)  one  of  the  most 

risque  of  Messrs.  William  Johnston  & Peter  Brown,  of  Rhode 
Island,  owners  of  said  Brigg’a. 


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@ 15s.  &5s. 

11  7 6 

£1466  13  6 

Charges  deduced,  viz. 

To  cash  paid  for  Permit  to  Land  the  Slaves  . . . . £00  5 0 


“ Duty  on  47  Slaves  @ 5s 11  15  0 

“ for  Drummer  attending  the  Sales  . . . . 0 5 0 

“ paid  for  carrying  Notes  into  the  Country, 
for  Liquor  at  the  Sales  & for  Wherry 

hire  1 19  5 

To  the  Captain’s  Coast  Commission  on  £1432  12  6 55  2 2 

To  Commissions  on  £1466  13  6 @ 5 p.  ct 73  6 8 142  15  3 


£1324  0 3 

Nett  Proceeds  carried  to  the  credit  of 

Messrs.  William  Johnston  & Peter  Brown, 

Rhode  Island ; Their  Acct.  Curt. 

Barbados  July  10th  1753 

Errors  excepted 

Am.  Hist.  Record , vol.  i,  p.  339. 


Elias  Mebivtblle. 


THE  GOLDEN  AGE  OF  NEWPORT  119 

notable  Newport  magnates  of  the  old  or  landed 
order  — the  order  of  William  Harris,  William 
Coddington,  and  William  Brenton  — namely, 
Samuel  Cranston.  Thirty  successive  times  had  he 
been  elected  governor  of  the  colony.  Within  the 
period  of  his  incumbency  there  had  fallen  the  ex- 
citing decade  of  piracy,  perplexing  years  of  the 
endless  disputes  over  money  and  boundaries,  and 
one  war  — Queen  Anne’s.  At  no  time  had  he 
failed  to  inspire  public  confidence  by  the  exercise 
of  that  rare  faculty  which  he  possessed  of  sympa- 
thetically reflecting  public  feeling  ; a faculty  exer- 
cised no  less  in  the  admitting  of  pirates  to  bail 
than  in  a careful  avoidance  of  acts  offensive  to 
either  the  advocates  of  soft  money  or  hard. 

Of  the  new  or  mercantile  class  — the  class  of 
genuine  sea-lords  — the  first  in  point  of  date  and 
consequence  were  undoubtedly  our  acquaintances 
William  and  John  Wanton.  With  them  ship- 
building, privateering,  and  mercantile  adventuring 
were  interchangeable  occupations. 

A later  group"  of  merchants  (and  upon  the 
whole  the  group  most  characteristic  of  eighteenth 
century  Rhode  Island)  embraced  in  large  part 
men  already  known  to  us  through  their  protests  to 
the  king  against  paper  money.  These  men  (New- 
porters all)  were  Abraham  Redwood,  William 
Ellery,  Henry  Collins,  John  Brown,  Peleg  Brown, 
Daniel  Ayrault,  John  Freebody,  Samuel  Freebody, 
Godfrey  Malbone,  John  Malbone,  Sueton  Grant, 


120 


KHODE  ISLAND 


John  Channing,  Gideon  Wanton,  Joseph  Wanton, 
Samuel  Vernon,  Thomas  Hazard,  Solomon  Town- 
send, and  Abraham  Whipple.  And  not  only  were 
these  men  merchants ; they  in  the  main  were  mer- 
chants of  magnanimous  minds.  They  belonged  to 
the  class  that  in  the  Italy  of  the  fifteenth  century 
delighted  to  adorn  the  State  with  palaces,  and  to 
fill  these  palaces  with  beautiful  and  costly  objects 
of  art.  It  of  course  was  at  a humble  distance  that 
the  Newport  dealer  in  sugar,  rum,  and  slaves  trod 
in  the  steps  of  the  Venetian  or  Florentine  who  had 
trafficked  in  silks,  tapestries,  precious  stones, 
aromatic  woods,  and  ivory,  but  none  the  less  he 
trod  there ; so  obviously,  indeed,  that  in  one  in- 
stance (that  of  Henry  Collins)  the  appellation  be- 
stowed is  that  of  the  Lorenzo  de  Medici  of  New- 
port. 

The  dwellings  of  the  mercantile  group  before  us 
consisted  in  spacious  wooden  houses  of  two  and  a half 
or  three  stories,  with  gambrel  or  hip  roofs.  The  door- 
ways were  ornamented  by  fluted  posts  and  scrolled 
pediments.  The  halls  were  central  and  wide,  and 
the  principal  chambers  were  wainscoted  nearly  to 
the  ceiling.  Moreover,  there  were  not  wanting  (to 
those  possessed  of  the  wealth  or  humor  for  them) 
country  places  — suburban  villas.  The  latter  were 
approached  by  roads  (none  too  good)  over  the 
undulous  and,  in  that  day,  tree-clad  surface  of  the 
island;  and,  when  gained  by  the  visitor,  were 
found  surrounded  by  gardens  somewhat  formally 


THE  GOLDEN  AGE  OF  NEWPORT  121 

laid  out  but  made  bright  by  flowers  and  sweet  by 
scented  shrubs.  The  country  abode  of  Abraham 
Redwood  was  in  Portsmouth,  and,  under  the  name 
of  “ Redwood,”  was  widely  known  for  its  unusual 
botanical  specimens. 

According  to  tradition,  the  rural  mansion  and 
estate  which,  between  1744  and  1766,  outranked 
all  others  near  Newport  was  that  of  Godfrey  Mal- 
bone.  There  is  little  in  the  way  of  information 
about  Malbone  that  is  trustworthy  ; but  we  know 
that  he  was  a rough  and  ready  seafaring  man  of 
Virginia  birth,  a bold  trader  in  slaves,  fond  of 
privateering  enterprises,  and  a stanch  churchman, 
in  short  a Byronic  character.  In  1744,  just  after 
the  Spanish  War  had  merged  into  that  of  King 
George,  and  just  after  a handsome  return  had  be- 
gun to  be  realized  from  the  sale  of  condemned 
Spanish  and  French  prizes,  Malbone  purchased  at 
the  foot  of  Miantonomy  Hill  a tract  of  six  hun- 
dred acres  sloping  full  to  the  bay  on  the  west. 
Here  he  built  of  Connecticut  stone  a large  house 
which  he  surmounted  with  a cupola  and  surrounded 
with  grounds  embellished  by  hedges,  terraces,  par- 
terres of  flowers,  and  ponds  of  glinting  fish.  A 
famous  bon  vivant  was  our  nabob  in  the  style  of 
the  day  — the  Georgian  style  — one  rather  heavy 
and  coarse  when  the  company  consisted  of  men. 
And  of  men  we  may  be  assured  that  it  frequently 
did  consist  with  a host  who  relished  exceedingly 
his  turtle,  his  joint,  his  punch  brewed  of  rum,  sugar, 


122 


RHODE  ISLAND 


lime-juice,  and  arrack,  and  above  all,  his  oath  and 
his  broad  jest. 

As  early  as  1740  Newport  was  cosmopolitan. 
The  Redwoods  were  there  from  Antigua ; the  De 
Courcys  from  Ireland ; the  Grants  and  Edward 
Scott  (grand-uncle  of  Sir  Walter)  from  Scotland ; 
and  the  Bretts  from  Germany.  Huguenot  families, 
too,  from  the  Carolinas,  driven  away  by  the  In- 
dian wars,  had  to  some  extent  made  the  place  a 
refuge  with  their  slaves.  Society  possessed  strong 
elements  of  attraction.  Clubs,  or  what  were  the 
equivalent  of  clubs,  soon  appeared  in  such  organi- 
zations as  the  Newport  Artillery,  formed  in  1741, 
and  the  Fellowship  Club  (a  mariners’  society), 
formed  in  1752.  In  1761  the  town  was  visited  by 
a theatrical  troup.  For  two  months  renditions  of 
plays  were  given ; of  Shakespearian  plays  some- 
times, but  oftener  of  44  The  Spectre  Bridegroom,” 
“ The  Conscious  Lover  ” (by  Richard  Steele), 
“ The  Lying  Valet,”  and  44  The  Devil  to  Pay.” 
The  same  company  afterwards  went  to  Providence, 
but  the  colder  temper  of  that  locality  proved  in- 
hospitable, and  the  next  year  theatrical  exhibitions 
were  prohibited  throughout  the  colony. 

At  this  time,  as  during  the  Revolution,  the 
young  women  of  Newport  were  charming  for  color 
of  cheeks,  lightness  of  foot,  and  grace  of  deport- 
ment ; and  the  fact  that  many  of  them  were  from 
Quaker  families  did  not  interfere  with  their  partici- 
pation in  the  gayeties  that  prevailed.  Besides  the 


THE  GOLDEN  AGE  OF  NEWPORT  123 


theatre  and  the  prim  “ teas,”  there  were  parties  to 
Fort  George  at  which  dainties  were  served  and  sets 
formed  to  dance  the  “ Faithful  Shepherd  ” and 
“Arcadian  Nuptials.”  Then,  too,  the  shops  held 
forth  a constant  lure  in  fabrics  and  curiosities  from 
both  Europe  and  the  Indies ; and  if  naught  else 
offered,  a young  woman  could  join  a spinning 
match  at  Dr.  Ezra  Stiles’s,  buy  a lottery  ticket  for 
a charity,  or  invest  her  pin-money  in  spermaceti 
candles  to  be  carried  abroad  and  converted  into 
Irish  linen  for  her  future  domestic  establishment. 

Newport*  life  was  ministered  to  by  slavery  as  a 
traffic.  It  also  to  some  degree  was  ministered  to 
by  slavery  as  an  institution.  In  1T08  the  town 
possessed  220  negroes,  and  even  in  1680  Governor 
Peleg  Sanford  had  reported  the  presence  of 
“blacks”  as  a distinct  element.  By  1780  there 
were  in  the  town  649  “ blacks.”  In  the  entire 
colony  at  this  date  the  negroes  were  1648.  Eigh- 
teen years  later  the  total  for  the  colony,  including 
those  belonging  t&  the  recently  acquired  towns  on 
the  east  of  the  bay,  was  3077  ; and  by  1756  this 
number  had  been  increased  to  4697  — the  maxi- 
mum before  the  Revolution. 

It  was  no  unusual  sight  at  a Newport  wharf, 
that  of  some  slaver  discharging  its  human  cargo ; 
“ the  sellers  and  buyers  of  men,  women,  and  children 
thronging  the  market  place.”  The  fact  that  a man 
was  a Quaker  did  not  as  yet  much  restrain  him  as 


124 


RHODE  ISLAND 


a buyer.  Joseph  Wanton,  son  of  Governor  Wil- 
liam Wanton,  and  last  colonial  governor  of  Rhode 
Island,  made  affirmation  that  “in  1758  he  had 
sailed  from  Newport  in  the  snow  King  of  Prussia, 
with  a cargo  of  124  hogsheads  of  rum,”  etc.,  and 
that  “ while  at  anchor  at  Annamibo,  having  on 
board  fifty-four  slaves,”  he  was  taken  by  a French 
privateer,  etc.  Yet  this  same  Joseph  was  careful 
to  record  at  the  beginning  of  his  statement  that 
“he  was  one  of  the  people  called  Quakers  and 
conscientiously  scrupulous  about  taking  an  oath.” 
Every  Newport  family  of  pretensions  owned  slaves. 
They  were  kept  as  domestic  servants  and  not 
treated  harshly.  Upon  one  occasion  the  Newport 
“ Mercury  ” printed  an  advertisement  as  follows  : 
“Wanted:  a negro  from  sixteen  to  twenty-five, 
free  from  bad  smell,  strait  limbed,  active,  healthy, 
good-tempered,  honest,  sober,  quick  at  apprehen- 
sion, and  not  used  to  run  away.”  If  the  advertiser 
got  what  he  sought  he  was  fortunate. 

On  the  whole,  the  negro  slave  at  Newport  was 
more  a nuisance  than  a benefit.  There  was  little 
work  there  for  him  to  do  that  could  not  be  done 
better  by  a white  man,  and  the  climate  gave  him 
no  superiority  in  point  of  endurance.  He  had  three 
distinct  failings : he  was  fond  of  rum,  he  would 
steal,  and  he  would  run  away.  The  offenses  of  theft 
and  absconding  were  usually  combined.  In  the  New- 
port “ Mercury  ” there  may  be  found  notices  not  a 
few  of  the  escape  of  Pomp  “ very  artful  and  insinu- 


THE  GOLDEN  AGE  OF  NEWPORT  125 


ating  ; ” of  the  escape  of  Caesar  “ who  plays  well 
the  violin ; ” or  of  the  escape  of  Sarah,  “ a lusty 
mulatto,  polite  and  ingenious  at  needlework  ” — 
each  and  all  the  bearers  of  some  purloined  article. 
To  place  the  slave  under  better  control,  various 
laws  were  passed.  In  1704  negroes  were  forbidden 
to  be  abroad  after  nine  at  night.  In  1714  ferry- 
men were  forbidden  to  transport  them  without  a 
certificate  from  their  masters.  In  1743  (and  of 
special  significance  is  this  law)  a punishment  by 
branding  and  scourging  was  provided  for  “ negroes 
that  shall  attempt  to  commit  rape  on  any  white 
woman.’’  Between  1728  and  1770  acts  also  were 
passed  regulating  manumission  and  against  the 
keeping  by  free  negroes  of  “ disorderly  houses.” 

Among  the  free  negroes  of  Newport  the  most 
celebrated  was  Newport  Gardner.  He  is  described 
as  “ tall,  straight,  and  dignified ; ” and  his  attain- 
ments (for  one  of  his  race)  were  remarkable.  He 
taught  himself  much  of  the  science  and  art  of 
music,  composed  tunes,  conducted  a successful 
singing  school,  and  founded  a colored  church.  In 
addition  to  being  able  to  read  and  write  English, 
he  could  speak  French.  His  weakness  was  an 
appetite  for  rum. 

Two  classes  of  the  Newport  merchant  magnate 
have  been  considered : the  class  that  was  as  much 
privateersman  as  merchant  (of  which  the  Wanton 
family  in  its  earlier  representatives  is  an  apt  illus- 


126 


RHODE  ISLAND 


tration)  and  the  class  that  though  engaged  in  priva- 
teering were  not  so  engaged  personally  and  that 
depended  more  and  more  for  emolument  upon  the 
slave  trade. 

But  there  was  a third  class.  It  consisted  of  the 
Newport  Jew,  and  it  differed  from  the  others  in 
that,  besides  the  rum  and  slave  trade,  its  members 
followed  general  commerce,  reaching  out  for  the 
commodities  of  the  Mediterranean  and  the  Le- 
vant. 

Jews  are  heard  of  in  Newport  in  1658  — the 
Campannalls,  the  Packeckoes,  the  Levis,  and  others. 
Then  in  1694  a number  of  families  arrived  from 
the  West  Indies  (Curagoa).  It  was  natural  that 
Jews  should  seek  Rhode  Island.  In  enumerating 
the  persecuted  races  and  classes  for  the  benefit  of 
whom  the  “livelie  experiment”  was  designed, 
Roger  Williams  had  specifically  spoken  of  the 
Children  of  Abraham.  “ By  the  merciful  assistance 
of  the  Most  High,”  Williams  had  said,  “ I have 
desired  to  labor  in  Europe,  in  America,  with  Eng- 
lish, with  Barbarians,  yea,  and  also  I have  longed 
after  some  trading  with  Jews  themselves,  for 
whose  hard  measure,  I fear  the  nations  and  Eng- 
land have  yet  a score  to  pay.”  “ All  these  con- 
sciences (yea  the  very  consciences  of  the  papists, 
Jews  &c.,)  . . . ought  freely  and  impartially  to  be 
permitted  their  several  respective  worships.”  Yet 
even  in  Rhode  Island  the  lot  of  the  Jew  was  not 
always  happy.  As  early  as  1684,  Simon  Medus, 


THE  GOLDEN  AGE  OF  NEWPORT  127 


David  Brown,  and  other  Jews  found  it  expedient 
to  secure  from  the  Rhode  Island  General  Assembly 
a declaration  that  they  “ might  expect  as  good  pro- 
tection as  any  stranger  . . . residing  amongst  us, 
. . . being  obedient  to  his  Majesty’s  laws.” 

The  Jews  who  became  Newport  magnates  were 
of  the  eighteenth  century  — Aaron  Lopez,  Abra- 
ham Rodriguez  Rivera,  and  Myer  Pollock.  They 
arrived  from  Portugal  and  Spain,  by  way  of  New 
York,  between  1740  and  1760.  Aaron  Lopez  was 
the  most  prominent  of  them,  and  he  had  fled  from 
Portugal  to  escape  the  Inquisition.  Associated  with 
Aaron  Lopez  was  his  brother  Moses.  This  firm 
and  Myer  Pollock  gave  attention  to  the  trade  in 
molasses  and  slaves.  The  Lopez  Brothers  — who 
owned  no  less  than  twenty-five  or  thirty  different 
craft — encouraged  also  a movement  (seriously  be- 
gun in  1733)  for  the  participation  of  Rhode  Island- 
ers in  whale-catching,  extending  the  “catch,”  it  is 
said,  as  far  as  the  Falkland  Islands.  It  was  Rivera 
who  more  particularly  devoted  his  energies  to  com- 
merce with  France  and  the  East.  But  his  activities 
were  not  limited  to  commerce.  Superior  methods 
for  the  production  of  sperm  oil  were  introduced  by 
him.  Indeed,  so  successful  were  his  methods  that 
by  1761  there  were  in  existence  at  Newport  seven- 
teen oil  and  candle  establishments.  Largely  at  the 
instance  of  the  Jewish  merchants  in  the  various 
colonies,  there  had  come  to  be  formed  an  intercolo- 
nial combination  or  trust  for  the  maintenance  of 


128 


RHODE  ISLAND 


prices  by  an  apportionment  of  material  and  regu- 
lation of  output. 

“We  bad  yesterday,”  wrote  Richard  Partridge 
from  London  on  November  25,  1755,  “ advice  via 
France  of  the  dreadful  Earth  Quake  and  Fire  at 
Lisbon  on  1st  Novr.  wherein  were  destroyed  as  its 
judged  100,000  People  and  the  greatest  part  of  the 
City.”  As  a sequel  to  this  catastrophe,  the  number 
of  Portuguese  Jews  in  Newport  was  increased.  Just 
prior  to  the  Revolution  there  were  there  in  all  per- 
haps two  hundred  Hebrew  families. 

By  the  early  trade  in  molasses  and  rum  ; by  the 
privateering  of  the  W antons  ; by  the  slave  trade  of 
the  Malbones ; and  finally,  by  the  wider  and  more 
princely  commercial  ventures  of  the  families  of 
Lopez  and  Rivera,  Newport  so  waxed  in  wealth 
that  although  between  1750  and  1770  still  behind 
Boston,  “ a bold  prophet  was  he  who  said  then 
that  New  York  one  day  might  equal  Newport.” 


CHAPTER  VI 


THE  GOLDEN  AGE  OF  NEWPORT  — continued 
{Letters,  Art , Science) 

Dean  Berkeley  — The  Redwood  Library,  Gilbert  Stuart,  the  Jew- 
ish Synagogue  — Dr.  Ezra  Stiles  — Newport  vs.  Boston. 

The  individualism  of  Rhode  Island  — based,  as  it 
was,  on  that  which  was  spiritual  — on  the  Soul 
Liberty  of  Roger  Williams  and  the  “ inner  light  ” 
of  the  Antinomians,  Anabaptists,  and  Quakers  — 
could  not,  under  favoring  conditions,  but  flower 
forth  in  idealism.  Beginning  with  1729,  these 
conditions  were  supplied  at  Newport  by  the  devel- 
opment there  of  wealth  through  commerce,  and  by 
the  presence  there,  for  a time,  of  the  greatest  ideal- 
ist among  English  philosophers  — George  Berkeley, 
Dean  of  Derry.  - 

It  was  early  in  the  year  when  Dean  Berkeley 
reached  Newport.  He  brought  with  him  his  wife 
(daughter  of  Chief  Justice  Forster),  whom  he  had 
just  married,  and  the  portrait  painter  Smibert,  of 
whom  Walpole  makes  mention  in  his  “Anecdotes 
of  Painting.”  Dr.  Thomas  Moffatt,  a learned  Scot- 
tish physician,  was  also  to  have  been  of  the  party, 
but  was  detained  by  illness.  “ The  Dean,”  said  the 


130 


RHODE  ISLAND 


“New  England  Weekly  Journal,”  announcing  his 
arrival,  “ is  a gentleman  of  middle  stature,  of  an 
agreeable,  pleasant,  and  erect  aspect.”  The  object 
of  Berkeley  in  coming  to  Rhode  Island  was  to  await 
the  remittance  by  Sir  Robert  Walpole  of  £20,000 
for  the  founding  of  a college  in  the  Bermudas  for 
the  Christianization  and  education  of  Indian  youth ; 
but  the  coming  was  not  significant  for  Newport  be- 
cause of  this.  It  was  significant  because  of  some- 
thing altogether  different ; because,  in  a word,  of 
what  Berkeley  himself  was  in  mind,  spirit,  and 
training. 

The  advent  of  the  dean  in  Newport  was  like  that 
of  Petrarch  in  Parma  or  Avignon ; it  was  the  ad- 
vent of  a renaissance.  Along  with  him  there  came 
not  alone  great  intellectual  independence  and 
abounding  human  charity,  but  there  came  culture 
— the  atmosphere  of  intimate  association  with  men 
of  letters : with  Richard  Steele,  with  Dean  Swift 
(to  whom  our  visitor  was  indebted  for  presentation 
at  Queen  Anne’s  court),  with  “ Young  Mr.  Pope,” 
and  finally  with  Addison,  whose  “ Cato  ” he  had 
witnessed  on  its  first  night  in  the  company  of  the 
author,  the  latter  a bit  nervous  but  fortified  for  the 
occasion  by  two  or  three  flasks  of  burgundy  and 
champagne.  Nor  was  the  culture  which  came  with 
him  by  any  means  purely  insular.  It  breathed  of 
the  Continent  and  of  travel : of  France  and  Gothic 
cathedrals;  of  North  Italy  and  dim  fugitive  ma- 
donnas ; of  Naples  pulsing  with  life  ; of  Vesuvius  ; 


THE  GOLDEN  AGE  OF  NEWPORT  131 

of  Capri ; of  Cumae  and  Misenum  and  the  spirit  of 
Virgil. 

As  has  been  intimated,  there  was  at  Newport  a 
considerable  preparedness  for  the  influences  ema- 
nating from  Berkeley.  In  what,  specifically,  did 
this  preparedness  consist? 

Throughout  the  colony  there  was  little  in  the 
way  of  means  of  public  education.  Despite  the 
earnest  plea  of  Master  William  Turpin,  preferred 
in  impeccable  script  in  1685,  Providence  main- 
tained no  public  school,  nor  was  to  do  so  for  many 
years  to  come.  Conditions  were  somewhat  better, 
though  not  much,  in  Portsmouth  and  Warwick.  In 
that  part  of  Rhode  Island  which  in  1729  was  still 
claimed  by  Massachusetts  things  were  promising. 
At  Barrington  and  Bristol  there  were  schools  — 
schools  that  since  1673  and  1682  had  taught  such 
formidable  branches  as  “ Grammar,  Rhetoric, 
Lattin,  Greek,  and  Hebrew.”  Newport,  in  respect 
to  schools,  might  not  compare  with  Barrington  or 
Bristol,  but  it  had  not  fared  ill.  There  was  a school- 
house  there  in  1685,  and  by  1710  permission  had 
been  granted  for  “ a Latin  school  in  the  two  little 
rooms  ” in  the  town  schoolhouse. 

The  press  — a further  means  of  education  — 
had  no  place  in  the  colony  at  large;  but  in  1727 
James  Franklin  (brother  of  the  progressive  Ben- 
jamin) had  removed  from  Boston  to  Newport,  and 
now  was  printing  books.  In  a short  while  (1732) 
he  was  to  begin  the  publication  of  Rhode  Island’s 


132 


RHODE  ISLAND 


first  newspaper,  the  “ Gazette,”  and  in  1758  his 
son  was  to  found  the  “ Mercury.” 

But  if  — even  at  Newport  — public  education 
was  in  no  very  forward  stage,1  a measurable  sub- 
stitute for  it  existed  in  an  active  sectarianism. 
There  was,  it  is  true,  no  longer  manifest  that 
feverishness  which  had  provoked  sorrow  in  Win- 
throp  and  ire  in  Cotton  Mather.  The  theological 
mixture  no  longer  seethed  in  its  tiny  caldron. 
Precipitation,  indeed,  was  well  advanced,  for, 
where  once  there  had  been  Gortonism  and  Anti- 
nomianism  and  Anabaptism  and  Quakerism  and 
Seekerism,  there  now  were  only  Baptism  and 
Quakerism ; and  instability  in  these  elements  was 
checked  by  Episcopalianism  and  Congregational- 
ism. 

At  the  time  of  Berkeley’s  coming  there  were  in 
flourishing  condition  in  Providence  the  original, 
or  Roger  Williams,  Baptist  Church  and  one 
Congregational  and  one  Episcopal  body ; the 
Congregational  body  ministered  to  by  the  Rev. 
Josiah  Cotton,  a great-grandson  of  John  Cotton, 
the  early  antagonist  of  Williams  in  public  con- 
troversy. In  Westerly  the  Seventh  Day  Baptists 
held  strong  sway.  In  Narragansett  — scene  of  the 

1 Down  to  1904  Rhode  Island  was  without  a uniform  system  of 
education.  Until  1902  children  could  be  withdrawn  from  school 
at  the  age  of  twelve.  They  still  may  so  be  withdrawn  at  thirteen. 
Attendance  up  to  thirteen  is  unsatisfactory,  as  local  sentiment 
(especially  among  the  foreign-horn)  sanctions  the  employment  of 
young  children  in  factories.  — R.  I.  School  Reports , 1903,  1904. 


THE  GOLDEN  AGE  OF  NEWPORT  133 

devotional  labors  of  both  Roger  Williams  and 
William  Blackstone  — Episcopalianism  was  estab- 
lished. In  Newport  itself  there  were  no  less  than 
seven  churches,  four  of  them  Baptist  — one  a 
Seventh  Day  church  organized  in  1671.  Of  the 
others,  one  was  Congregational,  one  Episcopal, 
and  one  Quaker ; the  latter,  of  course,  very  large. 
The  men  — the  more  prominent  of  them  — at  the 
head  of  these  bodies  were  the  Rev.  Nathaniel 
Clap  (Congregationalist),  the  Rev.  John  Comer 
(Baptist),  and  the  Rev.  James  Honyman  (Episco- 
palian). Moreover,  in  the  case  of  Honyman,  a 
handsome  church  edifice  with  ample  interior  and 
lofty  steeple  was  at  command ; as,  withal,  a tower- 
ing pulpit  from  which  the  visiting  dean  might,  as 
he  often  did,  deliver  his  chastened  message  to  the 
flock  below. 

The  preparedness  of  Newport  for  Berkeley, 
however,  is  made  evident  not  so  much  by  the 
existence  of  varied  and  active  church  circles  as 
by  the  fact,  first,  that  these  circles  were  mutually 
tolerant ; and  by  the  fact,  second,  that  in  the  case  of 
such  among  them  as  had  wealth,  that  wealth  had 
been  used  in  the  cultivation  of  a taste  for  books, 
pictures,  and  architecture. 

On  April  24,  1729,  the  dean  wrote  to  his  friend 
“ Tom  Prior  ” at  Dublin : “ Here  are  four  sorts 
of  Anabaptists,  besides  Presbyterians,  Quakers, 
Independents,  and  many  of  no  profession  at  all. 
Notwithstanding  so  many  differences,  here  are 


134 


RHODE  ISLAND 


fewer  quarrels  about  religion  than  elsewhere,  the 
people  living  peaceably  with  their  neighbors  of 
whatsoever  persuasion.”  Of  the  intellectuality  of 
the  Newporters  the  writer  was  fast  making  proof 
through  his  acquaintances:  William  Wanton, 

churchman  and  governor  of  the  colony;  Daniel 
Updike  of  Narragansett,  attorney  - general  and 
lover  of  history;  William  Ellery,  father  of  the 
William  Ellery  who  one  day  was  to  be  a signer 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence ; the  munifi- 
cent Henry  Collins,  soon  to  be  accounted  a patron 
of  Smibert ; and  Samuel  Johnson,  future  presi- 
dent of  King’s,  afterwards  Columbia  College, 
New  York.  It  is  altogether  likely  that  the  plan 
which  now  was  conceived  by  a number  of  these 
men  for  forming  a society  for  literary  and  philo- 
sophical discussion  — the  Philosophical  Society 
so-called,  precursor  of  the  Redwood  Library  — 
was  an  outcome  of  the  presence  at  Newport  of 
Berkeley.  At  all  events,  it  was  in  1730  that  this 
body  was  organized. 

Less  than  three  short  years  the  dean  remained 
in  Rhode  Island,  — an  interval  which  he  improved 
by  building  a country  home  (Whitehall)  near  the 
Hanging  Rocks  and  the  sea,  and  by  composing 
his  Plato-like  u Alciphron,” — but  the  radiance  with 
which  his  coming  had  been  attended  did  not  vanish 
away  at  his  departure.  When,  in  the  autumn  of 
1731,  assured  at  length  of  the  recreancy  of  Wal- 
pole in  the  matter  of  the  Bermuda  College,  he 


THE  GOLDEN  AGE  OF  NEWPORT  135 

took  ship  for  England,  he  left  behind  him  a 
stimulus  that  lasted  far  into  the  century. 

With  the  Unique  figure  of  Berkeley  removed  — 
that  figure  the  forerunner  of  Hume,  who  was  the 
forerunner  of  Immanuel  Kant  — things  of  intel- 
lectual and  artistic  consequence  in  the  little  harbor 
town  were  cared  for  down  to  the  Revolution  by 
various  individuals,  worthy  successors  to  the  phi- 
losopher and  man  of  artistic  appreciation.  As 
patrons  of  art  and  public  improvements,  there 
were  Henry  Collins  and  Abraham  Redwood ; as 
architects,  there  were  Richard  Munday  and  Peter 
Harrison ; as  painters,  there  were  J ohn  Smibert, 
Robert  Feke,  Gilbert  Stuart,  Cosmo  Alexander 
(Stuart’s  teacher),  and  Samuel  King;  as  scholars 
and  theologians,  there  were  Nathaniel  Clap,  James 
Honyman,  John  Comer,  John  Callender,  Isaac 
Touro,  Ezra  Stiles,  and  Samuel  Hopkins  ; as  print- 
ers and  publishers,  there  were  the  Franklins  and 
Solomon  Southwick  ; as  men  of  science,  there  were 
Dr.  Thomas  MofPatt,  Dr.  Thomas  Brett  (Leyden 
graduate),  and  Dr.  William  Hunter,  distinguished 
lecturer  upon  anatomy. 

Upon  the  achievements  of  these  men  a glance 
only  may  here  be  bestowed.  Redwood  in  1747  fur- 
nished the  nucleus  of  a book  fund.  Collins  the 
same  year  donated  a site  for  the  construction  of  a 
building  to  be  called  the  Redwood  Library ; and, 
from  the  plans  of  Harrison,  who  had  received  his 


136 


RHODE  ISLAND 


training  under  Sir  John  Vanbrugh,  architect  of 
Blenheim  House,  the  structure  was  completed  in 
1750.  Harrison,  later,  was  to  design  the  City  Hall 
and  Jewish  Synagogue.  Already  Munday  had 
wrought  the  elegant  proportions  of  Trinity  Church 
and  the  dignified  proportions  of  the  Colony  Cap- 
itol. Smibert,  Feke,  and  King  (portrait  painters 
in  oils)  are  known  from  their  works  preserved  in 
many  collections  in  New  England ; while  of  Gil- 
bert Stuart  as  a painter  it  is  in  no  wise  necessary 
to  speak.  Apropos  of  him  (a  snuff  grinder’s  son, 
born  in  Narragansett  on  December  3,  1755,  in 
a house  remote,  lonesome,  and  looking  into  the 
depths  of  what  not  inaptly  may  be  called  the  dark 
tarn  of  Auber),  one  can  but  marvel  at  the  sources 
and  haunts  of  genius. 

Of  exceptional  interest  are  the  theologians  of 
the  Newport  golden  age.  Gathered  in  one  small 
community  — one  at  the  best  of  not  over  nine 
thousand  souls  — there  were  not  merely  Baptists, 
Quakers,  Congregationalists,  and  Episcopalians, 
but  Jews  ; and  (after  1758)  Moravians. 

In  the  case  of  the  Jews,  the  position  of  huzan 
or  reader  was  filled  by  Isaac  Touro,  a refugee  from 
Portugal  after  the  great  earthquake.  It  was  during 
Touro’s  incumbency  that  the  synagogue  was  ded- 
icated. December  2,  1763,  was  the  date,  and  the 
ceremony  was  stately  and  impressive.  There  now 
were  some  seventy  or  eighty  Jews  resident  in  New- 
port, and  the  Books  of  the  Law  (three  copies  of  the 


THE  GOLDEN  AGE  OF  NEWPORT  137 

Pentateuch  executed  on  tanned  calfskin,  one  a 
copy  from  Amsterdam  two  centuries  old)  were  car- 
ried by  them  in  solemn  procession  to  be  deposited 
(symbolically)  in  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant.  Dr. 
Ezra  Stiles  was  present  on  the  occasion,  and  he  de- 
scribes the  reading  of  Scripture  by  the  huzan  and 
the  intoning  of  the  service  by  huzan  and  people  as 
profoundly  impressive.  The  impressiveness  in  no 
small  degree  was  due  to  the  synagogue  itself,  spa- 
cious, and  with  a deep  gallery  supported  on  Ionic 
columns  which  in  turn  were  surmounted  by  Corin- 
thian pillars  sustaining  the  roof.  Says  Dr.  Stiles  : 
“ The  order  and  decorum,  the  harmony  and  solem- 
nity of  the  musick,  together  with  a handsome  as- 
sembly of  people,  in  an  edifice  the  most  perfect  of 
the  Temple  kind  perhaps  in  America,  and  splen- 
didly illuminated,  could  not  but  raise  in  the  mind 
a faint  idea  of  the  majesty  and  grandeur  of  the 
ancient  Jewish  worship.”  Nor,  in  this  connection, 
should  it  be  overlooked  that  to  Abraham  and 
Judah  Touro,  sons  of  the  huzan  of  1763,  Newport 
stands  indebted  &>r  its  noble  Jewish  cemetery, 
fenced  from  the  street  by  granite  and  iron,  and 
kept  ever  beautiful  with  flowers,  — a cemetery  the 
land  for  which  was  in  part  purchased  in  1677. 

Not  a little  strange  must  it  have  seemed  to  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Stiles  and  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Hopkins — - 
Congregationalists  of  the  strictest  sect  — to  find 
themselves  in  such  religious  company  as  obtained 


138 


RHODE  ISLAND 


in  Newport.  Episcopalianism  even  was  less  exotic 
in  Rhode  Island  than  was  Congregationalism. 
Trinity  Church  had  been  founded  since  1699 ; and 
St.  Paul’s,  Narragansett,  since  1707;  and  it  had 
been  an  observation  of  Berkeley’s  that  the  Ana- 
baptists and  Quakers  each  agreed  that  the  Church 
of  England  was  “ the  second  best.”  Stiles  and 
Hopkins  were  in  a highly  undogmatic  atmosphere ; 
and  though  upon  Hopkins  (disciple  of  the  relent- 
less Edwards)  the  effect  was  limited,  upon  Stiles 
it  unquestionably  was  far-reaching. 

The  latter,  indeed,  despite  the  brusquerie  of  his 
memorable  consignment  to  hell  of  the  unregenerate 
Ethan  Allen  of  Vermont,  was  a man  of  astonish- 
ing breadth.  He  was  broad  enough  to  make  a close 
companion  of  Touro,  and  of  a visiting  Rabbi,  Haym 
Isaac  Karigal.  He  was  broad  enough  to  seek  out 
Albertus  Ludolphus  Rusmeyer,  the  pastor  of  the 
Moravians,  and  to  make  a companion  of  him.  He 
was  broad  enough  to  converse  tolerantly  with  a vis- 
iting Romish  priest,  a knight  of  St.  John.  He  was 
broad  enough  to  read  the  Philosophical  Dictionary 
of  Voltaire,  and  to  finish  it  with  the  comment: 
“He  [Voltaire]  has  some  instructive  remarks.” 
He  was  broad  enough  (and  perhaps  this  was  a cru- 
cial test)  to  take  an  intelligent  interest  in  Roger 
Williams  and  Samuel  Gorton,  making  a pilgrimage 
to  the  grave  of  the  one,  and  seeking  throughout 
Warwick  for  incidents  in  the  life  of  the  other.1 

1 Nowhere,  possibly,  is  the  catholicity  of  Stiles  more  clearly 


THE  GOLDEN  AGE  OF  NEWPORT 


139 


Not  only  did  Stiles  have  breadth,  he  possessed 
(and  in  this  no  doubt  lay  much  of  the  secret  of  his 
breadth)  a scholarship  and  an  intellectual  curiosity 
that  were  splendidly  varied.  His  interest  ranged 
easily  from  “ Jeremiah  ” to  comets.  Little  that 
was  human  was  alien  to  him.  The  result  was 
that  instead  of  degenerating  into  a pedant,  he  be- 
came one  of  the  most  useful  men  in  Newport.  He 
was  librarian  of  the  Redwood  Library.  When 
George  II  died,  he  preached  the  commemorative 
sermon.  When  Dr.  Franklin’s  experiments  in  elec- 
tricity were  published,  he  at  once  procured  the 
quarto.  When,  on  June  3,  1769,  there  occurred 
the  transit  of  Venus,  he  was  ready  for  it.  For  days 
in  advance  he  had  been  “ taking  equal  altitudes  ; ” 
“ getting  made  an  astronomical  sextant ; ” “ regu- 
lating two  clocks  by  the  meridian.”  On  the  event- 
ful day  itself  the  record  stands  thus  : “ Fine  serene 
day.  . . . The  transit  of  Venus  will  not  happen 

shown  than  in  his  lament  (June  8,  1782)  upon  the  death  of  his 
friend  Aaron  Lopez,  the  Jewish  Newport  merchant.  He  writes  : 
“ He  was  a Merchant  of  the  first  eminence  ; for  Honor  & extent 
of  commerce  probably  surpassed  by  no  Mercht  in  America.  . . . 
Without  a single  enemy  & the  most  universally  beloved  by  an  ex- 
tensive Acquaintance  of  any  man  I ever  knew.  . . . The  amiable 
and  excellent  Characters  of  a Lopez,  of  a Manasseh  Ben  Israel, 
of  a Socrates,  & a Gangenelli,  would  almost  persuade  us  to  hope 
that  their  Excellency  was  infused  by  Heaven,  and  that  the  virtu- 
ous & Good  of  all  nations  & religions,  notwithstandg  their  Delu- 
sions, may  be  bro’t  together  in  Paradise  on  the  Xtian  System, 
finding  Grace  with  the  all  benevolent  & adorable  Emmanuel  who 
with  his  expiring  breath  & in  his  deepest  agonies,  prayed  for  those 
who  knew  not  what  they  did.”  — Literary  Diary , vol.  iii,  p.  24. 


140 


RHODE  ISLAND 


again  in  above  an  hundred  years  at  either  node ; 
and  at  this  descending  node  again,  not  in  236  years 
or  before  a.  d.  2004.  . . . There  were  three  ob- 
servers at  the  same  time  looking  at  the  sun.  . . . 
I was  the  first  that  espied  Venus’s  entrance.  . . . 
At  sunset  Venus  had  passed  the  middle  of  the 
transit  and  sat  in  the  Sun’s  disk.”  Among  Stiles’s 
assistants  at  the  observation  were  William  Vernon, 
William  Ellery,  and  William  Marchant  — a mer- 
chant and  two  lawyers.  In  this  fact  there  was 
nothing  strange  in  the  Newport  of  1769. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  emphasize  the  catho- 
licity of  Stiles  by  noting  the  promptitude  with 
which  everybody  with  anything  on  his  mind  or  in 
his  heart  sought  him  out ; from  a French  fencing- 
master  to  the  young  daughter  of  Myer  Pollock  and 
her  Hebrew  lover  who  wished  to  become  Christians. 
A better  way,  perhaps,  will  be  by  noting  the  ap- 
proach which  the  Newport  pastor  made  to  Berkeley 
in  power  of  prevision.  Looking  westward,  before 
1729,  the  dean  had  sung:  — 

“Westward  the  course  of  Empire  takes  its  way.” 

Looking  westward  in  1770,  Ezra  Stiles  wrote  : 
“ [When]  English  America  is  fully  settled  from 
the  Atlantic  to  the  Mississippi,  the  English  of  the 
present  idiom  may  be  spoken  by  one  hundred  mil- 
lion. . . . Probably  the  English  will  become  the 
vernacular  tongue  of  more  people  than  any  one 
tongue  ever  was  on  earth  except  the  Chinese.” 


THE  GOLDEN  AGE  OF  NEWPORT 


141 


Toward  one  only  of  the  great  humanities  was 
Stiles  in  his  catholicity  indifferent,  not  to  say  hos- 
tile, and  that  was  music.  Herein  he  but  reflected 
contemporary  Newport.  Berkeley,  on  his  return  to 
England,  had  sent  an  organ  to  Trinity  Church; 
but  none  was  admitted  to  any  other  Newport  house 
of  worship,  and  in  fact  it  was  not  until  1770  that 
Providence  so  far  became  progressive  as  to  tolerate 
an  instrument.  In  that  year  the  First  Congrega- 
tional Church  of  Providence  erected  an  organ  of 
two  hundred  pipes.  This  departure  King’s  Church 
(the  Episcopal  body)  imitated  by  importing  an 
instrument  from  Boston  — one,  as  Dr.  Stiles  sar- 
castically records,  from  “ Concert  Hall  where  it  has 
been  improved  in  promoting  festivity,  merriment, 
effeminacy,  luxury  and  midnight  revellings.”  In 
1739  the  organist  of  the  Berkeley  gift  had  written  : 
“ The  Want  of  Instruments  together  with  the  Nig- 
gardliness of  the  People  of  this  Place,  and  their 
not  having  a Taste  for  Musick,  render  it  impos- 
sible for  any  one  of  my  Profession  to  get  a com- 
petent maintenance  here;  and  their  Feuds  and 
Animosities  are  so  great  concerning  their  Govern- 
ment, that  a Man  can  take  but  little  Satisfaction 
in  being  among  them.” 

But  while  Newport  in  the  middle  eighteenth 
century  was  to  most  things  strikingly  alive  — alive 
to  letters,  alive  to  art,  and  alive  to  science  1 — Bos- 

1 “Is  it  truth,  or  am  I blinded  by  partiality,”  wrote  Dr.  Ben- 


142 


RHODE  ISLAND 


ton  at  the  same  period  was,  intellectually  con- 
sidered, in  a state  bordering  on  deadness.  What 
for  Newport  was  a golden  age,  for  Boston,  and  in- 
deed for  Massachusetts  at  large,  was  an  age  little 
short  of  glacial.  In  point  of  pure  pedagogics, 
Massachusetts  was  altogether  in  advance  of  Rhode 
Island ; but  until  in  Massachusetts  history  there  is 
reached  the  period  just  preceding  the  Revolution, 
— the  period  of  the  Otises  and  the  Adamses, — 
Massachusetts  life,  Boston  life,  was  manacled  and 
numbed  by  theology.1 

At  a time  when  at  Newport  and  in  Narragansett 

jamin  Waterhouse  to  Thomas  Jefferson  on  September  14,  1822, 
“ when  I say  that  this  small  State  of  Rhode  Island  has  been  fer- 
tile in  events,  and  by  no  means  destitute  of  distinguished  charac- 
ters. ...  It  was  the  Redwood  Library  that  rendered  reading 
fashionable  throughout  the  little  community  of  Rh.  Island  during 
70,  or  80  years,  wc  advantage  was  not  then  enjoyed  inMassta-  New 
Hampshire  or  Connecticut.  It  diffused  a knowledge  of  general 
and  particular  history,  geography,  ethics  & poetry  & polite  litera- 
ture. ...  It  sowed  the  seeds  of  that  science  and  rendered  the 
inhabitants  of  Newport,  if  not  a learned  yet  a better  read,  & [more] 
inquisitive  people  than  any  other  town  in  New  England.”  — Pub. 
E.  I.  Hist.  Soc.  vol.  ii,  pp.  175,  176. 

1 “The  Magnalia,”  says  Mr.  Charles  Francis  Adams,  “stands 
to-day  the  one  single  literary  landmark  in  a century  and  a half 
of  colonial  and  provincial  life,  — a geological  relic  of  a glacial 
period,  — a period  which  in  pure  letters  produced,  so  far  as  Massa- 
chusetts was  concerned,  absolutely  nothing  else,  — not  a poem, 
nor  an  essay,  nor  a memoir,  nor  a work  of  fancy  or  fiction  of 
which  the  world  has  cared  to  take  note.”  — Massachusetts:  its 
Historians  and  its  History , p.  67. 

“ The  remarkable  literary  revival  of  Queen  Anne’s  reign  was 
little  observed  or  felt  here  [in  Boston].”  Delano  A.  Goddard, 
Memorial  History  of  Boston,  vol.  ii,  p.  413. 


THE  GOLDEN  AGE  OF  NEWPORT 


143 


private  libraries  (as  we  are  reminded  by  Mr.  Wil- 
liam E.  Foster)  contained  books  such  as  the  “Faerie 
Queene,”  “Hudibras,”  “Samson  Agonistes,”  the 
plays  of  Ben  Jonson,  Pope’s  Homer,  and  the  plays 
of  Moliere,  none  of  these  was  to  be  found  in  the 
library  of  Harvard  College,  the  largest  library  in 
the  Bay  colony.  Nor  did  Harvard  possess  a line 
of  Addison,  Steele,  or  Swift,  writers  with  whom 
(through  Berkeley)  Rhode  Islanders  were  inti- 
mately acquainted,  and  whose  works  were  among 
those  earliest  secured  for  the  Redwood  collection. 
Or,  to  put  the  matter  otherwise,  at  a time  when  in 
Rhode  Island  religious  feeling  was  not  permitted 
to  become  tense,  in  Massachusetts  the  tension,  reli- 
giously, was  such  that  men,  maddened  by  the 
thought  of  impending  perdition,  not  only  carped 
at  Baptist,  Quaker,  and  Episcopalian,  but  daily 
groveled  before  their  Maker  as  before  a Moloch. 
Hours  upon  their  knees  did  the  Mathers,  the  Sew- 
alls,  and  the  Edwardses  wrestle  with  Jehovah,  as 
wrestled  Jacob  of  old ; imploring,  beseeching,  aye, 
even  demanding  of  God  mercy  as  promised  in  his 
Holy  Word.1 

And  the  culmination  — what  was  it  ? Instead 
of  an  intellectual  renaissance,  it  was  an  hysteria, 
a mania,  — the  great  religious  awakening  of  1740 

1 On  Christmas  Day,  1696,  Samuel  Sewall,  as  he  relates  in  his 
interesting  diary,  made  a solemn  ceremonial  visit  to  the  family 
tomb,  where  he  rearranged  the  coffins  and  found  the  exercise  “ an 
awful  yet  pleasing  Treat.”  — 5th  Mass.  Hist.  Coll.  vol.  v,  p.  443. 


144 


RHODE  ISLAND 


under  Edwards  and  Whitefield.  In  certain  of  the 
American  colonies,  as  for  instance  Virginia,  the 
Great  Awakening  wrought  undoubted  good.  It  set 
man  and  God,  hitherto  far  apart,  face  to  face. 
But  in  Massachusetts  it  produced  excess.  Still, 
for  us  the  noteworthy  fact  in  connection  with 
it  is  that  it  failed  to  react  with  any  power  upon 
Rhode  Island.  Here,  as  in  North  Carolina,  the  in- 
ward serenity  of  the  Quaker,  backed  by  the  out- 
ward serenity  of  the  churchman,  gave  it  little 
quarter,  and  it  fell  back  substantially  a broken 
wave. 

The  Newport  golden  age,  — the  age  of  the  com- 
mercial, social,  and  intellectual  preeminence  of 
Rhode  Island,  — the  age  which,  beginning  with 
the  Wantons  in  the  realm  of  seamanship  and  trade 
and  with  Berkeley  in  the  realm  of  ideas,  counts 
upon  the  rosary  of  its  years  so  many  names  that 
are  inspiring,  passed  away  with  the  Revolution. 
Since  the  Revolution,  Massachusetts  (largely  under 
the  individualizing  influence  of  Unitarianism)  has 
realized  its  golden  age.  To-day,  perchance,  it  is  the 
dream  of  Massachusetts  hardly  less  than  of  Rhode 
Island  that 

“ Time  will  run  back  and  fetch  the  age  of  gold.” 1 

1 In  1891  Hr.  Henry  Cabot  Lodge  contributed  to  the  Century 
Magazine  for  September  a paper  on  the  distribution  of  ability  in 
the  United  States.  According  to  Mr.  Lodge  (whose  basis  of  esti- 
mate was  Appleton’s  Encyclopedia  of  American  Biography ),  the 
United  States  had  produced  14,243  persons  of  more  than  average 
talent.  Of  those  Massachusetts  was  to  be  credited  with  2686  and 


THE  GOLDEN  AGE  OF  NEWPORT 


145 


Rhode  Island  with  291.  In  1890,  by  the  Federal  Census,  the  pop- 
ulation of  Massachusetts  was  2,238,943,  and  that  of  Rhode  Island 
345,506.  In  Massachusetts,  therefore,  the  men  of  ability  (up  to 
1891)  had  been  about  one  in  eighty-four  of  the  total  population, 
and  in  Rhode  Island  about  one  in  one  hundred  and  eighteen. 


CHAPTER  VII 


OLD  NARRAGANSETT 

Huguenot  Refugees  — English  Planters  — The  Torrey  Lawsuit 
— Dr.  James  MacSparran  — Plantation  Life. 

The  Narragansett  country  (called  in  1665  the 
King’s  Province  and  in  1686  Rochester)  embraced 
that  part  of  Rhode  Island  lying  west  of  Narragan- 
sett Bay  and  south  of  the  Warwick  line.  In  1660 
the  southwestern  corner  of  this  region  had  been 
preempted  by  Rhode  Island,  as  against  Connecti- 
cut, under  the  name  of  Misquamicutt,  — a name 
changed  in  1669  to  Westerly;  and  in  1677  the 
northeastern  corner  had  been  preempted  under  the 
name  of  East  Greenwich. 

The  settlement  of  East  Greenwich  derives  inter- 
est from  the  case  of  Dr.  Pierre  Ayrault  and  his 
compatriots. 

In  1686  the  Atherton  Land  Company,  which, 
under  the  mortgage  to  it  in  1660  by  the  sachems, 
assumed  to  control  the  unoccupied  parts  of  Narra- 
gansett, sold  to  forty-five  French  families  (driven 
from  home  by  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of 
Nantes)  betweeen  four  and  five  thousand  acres 
within  the  limits  of  East  Greenwich.  These  lands 
were  duly  taken  into  possession  and  improved. 


OLD  NARRAGANSETT 


147 


Moreover,  when  in  1690  war  broke  out  between 
England  and  France,  the  settlers  cheerfully  bound 
themselves  to  good  behavior  by  an  oath  of  alle- 
giance to  the  English  sovereign.  But  as  time 
passed  the  English  occupants  of  lands  in  the  vicin- 
ity of  the  French  — lands  obtained  under  grants 
from  the  colony  of  Rhode  Island,  and  which,  prior 
to  the  coming  of  the  refugees,  had  been  platted 
into  lots  and  highways  — began  to  assert  them- 
selves by  seeking  to  extend  the  highways  through 
the  property  of  the  newcomers.  The  outcome  was 
trouble  to  such  a degree  that  in  1692  the  entire 
French  settlement,  save  two  families,  removed  to 
New  York  or  Boston. 

Of  the  two  families  that  remained,  Dr.  Ayrault’s 
was  one.  The  doctor  had  built  a substantial  house, 
planted  an  orchard  and  a vineyard,  and,  failing 
altogether  (through  unfamiliarity  with  the  English 
tongue)  to  comprehend  the  question  of  title  in- 
volved between  the  Atherton  Company  and  Rhode 
Island,  saw  no  reason  why  he  should  abandon  his 
homestead.  He  not  only  did  not  abandon  it,  but 
obstructed  such  of  the  highways  as  were  sought 
to  be  opened  through  it.  At  length,  in  July,  1700, 
a warrant  of  arrest  was  issued  against  him  by  the 
assistants  of  the  town  of  Warwick  sitting  in  East 
Greenwich.  He  and  his  son  Daniel  were  dragged 
with  cruel  severity  before  these  officials  by  an 
excited  mob,  and  forced  to  give  bonds  for  their 
appearance  for  trial.  The  trial  resulted  in  an  order 


148 


RHODE  ISLAND 


for  the  extension  of  the  highways,  but  the  outrages 
perpetrated  upon  the  Ayrault  family  were  recorded 
in  affidavits,  and  formed  not  the  least  substantial 
part  of  the  plea  against  Rhode  Island  submitted 
to  the  Lords  of  Trade  by  Dudley  in  1705.1 

Of  the  many  things  of  interest  in  the  history  of 
Narragansett  the  Huguenotic  settlement  and  dis- 
persion constitute  but  one.  Others  are  the  rise  of 
a class  of  large  landholders  and  the  contemporane- 
ous rise  and  spread  of  Quakerism  and  Anglicanism. 

The  settlement  of  the  Narragansett  country  was 
effected  by  land  companies,  — especially  by  the 
Pettiquamscutt  Company  of  1657  and  the  Atherton 
Company  of  1659.  These  companies,  along  with 
the  Misquamicutt  settlers  on  the  Pawcatuck  River, 
controlled  between  them  that  great  strip,  two  to 
four  miles  wide,  which  extends  westwardly  along 
the  bay  and  seacoast  from  Wickford,  — a strip 
remarkable  for  fertility  in  a region  otherwise  stony 
and  barren.  And  not  only  was  the  land  controlled 
by  companies.  The  companies  were  composed  of 
few  members,  so  individual  estates  were  large. 
Such  estates,  too,  for  many  years  were  kept  large. 
They  were  favored  by  the  English  custom  and  law 

1 A Huguenot  prominent  in  Rhode  Island  and  identified  with 
Newport,  Narragansett,  and  Providence,  was  Gabriel  Bemon. 
He  came  from  Boston,  and,  like  the  Huguenots  from  Massachu- 
setts to  South  Carolina,  was  a stanch  friend  to  the  Church  of 
England.  He  was  instrumental  in  founding  Trinity  Church,  New- 
port (1699-1700),  St.  Paul’s,  Narragansett  (1707),  and  St.  John’s, 
Providence  (1722). 


OLD  NARRAGANSETT 


149 


of  primogeniture  (not  finally  abrogated  m Rhode 
Island  until  1770)  and  by  a law  prohibiting  attach- 
ment for  debt  in  the  case  of  a resident  landowner. 
Neither  Providence,  Portsmouth,  Warwick,  nor 
Newport  was  settled  exactly  as  was  Narragansett. 
None  of  them  was  settled  by  a few  men  of  large 
means,  although  in  this  respect  Newport  more 
closely  resembled  Narragansett  than  did  Provi- 
dence, Portsmouth,  or  Warwick.  The  peculiarity 
of  large,  not  to  say  enormous,  estates  in  the  King’s 
Province  was  remarked  upon  in  1670  by  Major 
Mason  of  Connecticut,  who  described  the  holdings 
as  “ five,  six  and  ten  miles  square.” 

Of  the  Pettiquamscutt  Company  the  members 
originally  were  in  part  Episcopalian  and  in  part 
Congregationalism  John  Hull,  the  Boston  mem- 
ber, was  clearly  Congregationalist ; Wilbor,  Mum- 
ford,  and  Brenton  were  probably  Episcopalian ; 
Arnold,  Wilson,  and  Porter  were  nondescript.  In 
1668  the  company  donated  for  ministerial  support 
in  Pettiquamscutt  three  hundred  acres,  specifying 
that  the  minister  was  to  be  “orthodox,”  but  failing 
to  declare  wherein  orthodoxy  consisted.  In  1679 
the  three-hundred-acre  grant  for  the  support  of  a 
minister  was  confirmed ; but  so  completely  was  it 
still  left  in  the  dark  as  to  what  the  principles  of 
the  minister  were  to  be  that  in  1692,  when  the 
land  was  being  platted,  Jahleel  Brenton  (then  a 
member  of  the  company)  advised  that  no  attempt 
be  made  to  settle  the  point,  but  that  it  be  left  open 


150 


RHODE  ISLAND 


to  dispute.  Accordingly  a very  pretty  dispute  was 
waged  between  the  Congregationalists  under  the 
Rev.  Joseph  Torrey  and  the  Episcopalians  under 
MacSparran  until  1752.  In  that  year  the  king  in 
council,  moved  by  the  fact  that  Brenton,  Wilbor, 
and  Hull  all  had  at  some  time  been  members  of 
the  First  Church  of  Boston,  rendered  a decision 
in  favor  of  Congregationalism  as  the  “orthodoxy” 
meant  to  be  subsidized  in  the  grant  of  1668. 1 

It  was  the  Quakers  and  Episcopalians  who  in 
Narragansett  created  the  religious  atmosphere. 
At  the  same  time  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that 
in  Westerly  Quakers  and  Episcopalians  alike  were 
outnumbered  by  the  Seventh  Day  and  other  Bap- 
tists. The  Seventh  Day  Society  was  an  offshoot 
from  the  early  Seventh  Day  Church  at  Newport, 
and  was  organized  in  1708.  Among  the  other 

1 In  1695, 1696,  and  1702,  Samuel  Sewall,  -who  was  a son-in-law 
of  John  Hull,  and  who  succeeded  him  as  a proprietor  in  Petti- 
quamscutt,  made  gifts  of  land  there  for  school  and  ministerial 
purposes  as  follows  : five  hundred  acres  (near  Yagoo  Pond)  for  a 
local  school,  five  hundred  acres  (adjoining)  to  Harvard  College, 
and  three  hundred  acres  on  Tower  Hill  for  a meeting-house.  The 
lands  for  the  support  of  a local  school  were  sold  in  1825,  and 
the  income  from  the  proceeds  (about  $350  a year)  is  used  to  sup- 
port a teacher.  The  Harvard  College  land  also  has  been  sold, 
and  the  income  from  the  proceeds  supports  two  scholarships 
worth,  each,  two  hundred  dollars  a year.  The  ministerial  land 
(of  which  Sewall  was  in  reality  but  one  of  the  proprietors)  was 
the  tract  over  which  there  was  waged  the  lawsuit  Torrey  vs. 
Gardner.  The  proceeds  of  this  land  (which  in  1878  amounted  to 
nearly  $6000)  are  devoted  to  the  support  of  a Congregational 
minister  in  Narragansett.  — Pub.  It.  I.  Hist.  Soc.  vol.  ii,  p.  117. 


OLD  NARRAGANSETT 


151 


Baptists  were  tlie  New  Lights,  a society  which 
came  into  existence  about  1742  with  the  White- 
field  revival.  It  served  as  the  medium  for  so  much 
of  the  Whitefield  influence  as  found  scope  in 
Rhode  Island.  As  determined  by  conditions  purely 
economic,  Narragansett  life  was  favorable  to  the 
Episcopalians.  That  life,  too,  had  the  fortune  to 
be  blessed,  during  a considerable  part  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century,  with  the  ministrations,  religiously, 
of  a man  who  fitted  into  these  conditions  with  re- 
markable nicety,  — the  Rev.  James  MacSparran. 
The  witty  and  genial  personality  of  the  doctor 
may  well  serve  as  a centre  about  which  to  group 
the  life  in  question. 

On  arriving  in  Rhode  Island  in  April,  1721, 
MacSparran  (a  Scotch-Irish  bachelor  and  mission- 
ary twenty-eight  years  old)  found  awaiting  him  a 
tasteful  church  building  (St.  Paul’s)  and  seven 
or  less  communicants.  As  a first  important  step 
the  young  missionary  proceeded  (May  22,  1722) 
to  get  rid  of  his  bachelorhood  by  marrying  a 
handsome  lass  of  seventeen  summers  — Hannah 
Gardiner.  This  step  at  once  brought  the  husband 
into  the  select  circle  of  the  Gardiners,  the  Hazards, 
the  Robinsons,  and  the  Updikes  ; withal  it  soon 
increased  the  number  of  his  communicants.  Just 
who  the  Gardiners,  the  Hazards,  the  Robinsons, 
and  the  Updikes  were  it  becomes  for  us  of  interest 
to  inquire. 

Beginning  with  the  Updikes,  these  families 


152 


RHODE  ISLAND 


were  the  present  owners  of  the  Wickford  (Caw- 
camsqussick)  and  Boston  and  Point  Judith  Neck 
lands,  and  they  had  as  landed  neighbors  the  Cham- 
plins,  the  Stantons,  and  the  Babcocks.  The  lands 
in  question  opened  upon  the  old  Pequod  Path  (Post 
Road)  and  embraced,  per  owner,  anywhere  from 
two  to  twelve  thousand  acres.  The  Smiths  (to 
whom  the  Updikes  succeeded)  were  proprietors 
at  one  period  of  a tract  nine  miles  long  by  three 
wide ; and  Thomas  Stanton  lorded  it  over  a tract 
measuring  four  and  one  half  by  two  miles.  Upon 
such  estates  the  dwelling-houses  were  large,  with 
gambrel  roofs,  low  beam-traversed  ceilings,  and 
of  course  great  fireplaces.  Negro  slaves  were  the 
servants,  and  quarters  for  them  were  provided 
in  the  spacious  attics  or  else  in  a special  wing 
attached  to  the  dwellings  after  the  plan  of  a 
Maryland  manor.  The  primary  products  of  a 
Narragansett  farm  were  sheep  and  cattle.  From 
these  animals  there  were  derived  wool,  butter,  and 
cheese  — the  latter  a reproduction  of  the  famous 
Cheshire  article,  the  recipe  for  which  had  been 
brought  from  England  by  the  wife  of  Richard 
Smith.  There  were  produced  also  horses,  the 
Narragansett  pacer,  an  animal  (whether  Spanish 
or  native  in  origin)  proverbially  easy  of  gait  and 
so  fleet  that,  according  to  MacSparran,  it  could 
pace  a mile  in  little  more  than  two  minutes. 

The  social  customs  to  which  the  economic  con- 
ditions in  Narragansett  gave  rise  were,  despite  the 


OLD  NARRAGANSETT 


153 


fact  that  there  was  produced  no  single  staple  like 
tobacco,  almost  exactly  those  of  Virginia.  The 
men  were  large-hearted,  hospitable,  and  command- 
ing; the  women  dignified  and  courteous.  As  in 
the  Old  Dominion,  dwellings  were  widely  sepa- 
rated and  visiting  was  made  an  institution.  Tav- 
erns hardly  existed,  for  strangers  were  expected 
to  bring  with  them  letters  of  introduction,  which 
would  admit  them  to  the  family  and  neighborhood 
circle.  With  strangers  as  guests,  various  were  the 
forms  of  entertainment  resorted  to.  If  the  visitor 
were  fond  of  shooting,  the  innumerable  coverts 
abounded  in  partridges  and  quail.  If  he  were  a 
devotee  of  the  chase,  hounds  and  horns  and  hunt- 
ers were  at  his  disposal,  with  if  anything  rather  a 
superfluity  of  walls  and  ditches  to  test  the  sureness 
of  his  seat.  Berkeley’s  “ Alciphron,”  which  reflects 
closely  the  Rhode  Island  environment  of  the  writer, 
depicts  in  the  fifth  dialogue  a fox  hunt,  with  the 
noise  of  the  opening  of  hounds,  the  winding  of 
horns,  and  the  clamoring  of  country  gentry  in 
frocks,  short  wigs,- and  jockey  boots.  Or,  if  the 
visiting  stranger  were  a Virginian,  as  readily  he 
might  be  (for  a similarity  of  tastes  led  to  an 
exchange  of  civilities  between  the  two  sections) 
horse-racing  for  silver  tankards  was  a favorite 
pastime. 

Nor  were  the  gentry  of  Narragansett  indifferent 
to  the  higher  forms  of  pleasure.  A good  many 
private  libraries  existed  among  them.  Daniel  Up- 


154 


RHODE  ISLAND 


dike,  the  Kingstown  representative  in  the  New- 
port Philosophical  Society,  owned  Pope’s  Iliad,  the 
works  of  Hesiod,  Virgil’s  poems,  the  “ Colloquies 
of  Erasmus,”  dialogues  from  Moliere,  and  other 
books ; while  Smibert,  fresh  from  the  Madonna 
del  Granduca  and  the  glories  of  all  Tuscany, 
found  patrons  in  Pettiquamscutt  as  well  as  in 
Newport.  There  were  no  schools,  but  the  Virginia 
plan  of  private  tutors  obtained,  and  both  young 
men  and  damsels  were  trained  with  care  in  polite 
learning.  Dr.  MacSparran  instructed  young  men. 
Peter  Simons,  a Newport  teacher  of  music  and 
belles  lettres , instructed  young  women.  Hannah 
Robinson,  the  Narragansett  beauty  of  her  day, 
fell  madly  in  love  with  Simons,  — so  madly,  and 
withal  unfortunately,  that  a mere  historical  pen 
must  despair  of  doing  justice  to  the  romance. 

In  the  midst  of  the  life  described,  James  Mac- 
Sparran (made  a Doctor  of  Sacred  Theology  by 
Oxford  University  in  1737)  moved  ever,  as  at  first, 
a leading  figure.  Before  he  was  forty  he  had  grown 
portly,  — “ a full-bodied  fat  fellow,”  he  calls  him- 
self ; and  in  his  broad  wig  he  not  a little  reminds 
one  (as  the  editor  of  his  diary,  Dr.  Daniel  Good- 
win, truly  observes)  of  a clerical  Dr.  Samuel  John- 
son. Scotch-Irishman  that  he  was,  his  tongue  was 
sharp.  He  said  of  Rhode  Island  two  memorable 
things : one,  that  “ liberty  of  conscience  there  was 
carried  to  an  irreligious  extreme  ; ” and  the  other, 
that  “ the  Rhode  Islanders  [apropos  of  their  paper 


OLD  NARRAGANSETT 


155 


money  delusion]  were  perhaps  the  only  people  on 
earth  who  had  hit  on  the  art  of  enriching  them- 
selves by  running  in  debt.”  His  tartness,  and,  too, 
a certain  air  of  superiority  which  no  doubt  he  car- 
ried, led  the  vigorous  Ezra  Stiles  to  brand  him  in 
his  diary  as  a “vainglorious,  turbulent,  haughty, 
domineering  priest.”  The  MacSparran  rectory  was 
located  on  the  brow  of  the  hill  which  to-day  bears 
the  name  MacSparran,  and  the  outlook  from  it  was 
(and  is)  one  of  the  most  comprehensive  in  Khode 
Island.  To  the  north  and  left  was  Pettiquamscutt 
Pond,  with  the  mill  of  Stuart  the  snuff  grinder  at 
the  head  of  it ; in  front  flowed  the  Pettiquamscutt 
Eiver;  beyond  (across  the  shores  of  Conanicut) 
rose  the  Colony  House  and  spire  of  Trinity  Church, 
Newport ; to  the  south  and  right  stretched  miles 
of  bay  and  sea  line  lost  in  the  ultima  thule  of 
Block  Island. 

Like  every  one  about  him,  MacSparran  was  a 
slaveholder,  and  he  occasionally  deemed  it  whole- 
some to  administer  the  lash.  In  June,  1745,  he 
notes  that  he  gaveT  “ Moroca  one  or  two  Lashes 
for  receiving  presents  from  Mingo.  I think  it  was 
my  duty  to  correct  her,”  he  says,  and  then  adds : 
“ W^ver  Passion  passed  between  my  wife  and 
me  on  y8  occasion  Good  Ld  for  give  it.”  Hannah 
MacSparran  evidently  was  possessed  of  a mind 
and  temper  of  her  own,  for  elsewhere  the  doctor 
alludes  to  her  as  “ my  poor  passionate  dear.” 

In  subsequent  years  in  Narragansett  the  tender- 


156 


RHODE  ISLAND 


ness  of  the  rector’s  wife  for  the  maid  Moroca  was 
to  be  justified  in  the  growth  toward  the  negro 
(under  the  fostering  care  of  “ College  Tom  ” Haz- 
ard) of  a sentiment  so  compassionate  that  slave- 
holding little  by  little  was  undermined.  In  1745 
small  was  the  thought  of  such  a thing.  At  that 
period  the  very  existence  of  local  society  seemed 
to  be,  and  probably  was,  dependent  upon  slavery. 
In  contrast  with  Newport,  Narragansett  had  real 
work  for  the  negro  to  perform;  and  unless  per- 
formed by  him,  it  is  difficult  to  see  by  whom  it 
would  or  could  have  been.  The  great  farms  needed 
to  be  manned;  and  white  laborers  found  on  the 
sea  a life  too  profitable  and  too  full  of  freedom  to 
be  abandoned  for  dairy  tasks. 

By  1750,  Narragansett,  in  respect  to  the  number 
of  its  slaves  and  hence  in  respect  to  its  material 
prosperity,  was  at  its  zenith.  It  contained  within 
its  limits  about  one  thousand  negroes  — a propor- 
tion (in  South  Kingstown)  of  one  negro  to  every 
two  or  three  white  men.  In  Newport  the  negroes 
were  1105.  Together,  therefore,  the  two  localities 
contained  almost  exactly  two  thirds  of  the  negro 
population  of  the  colony.1 

1 On  April  14,  1751,  Dr.  MacSparran  preached  on  Tower  Hill 
a sermon  of  high  admonition  before  Thomas  Carter  of  Newport 
who  had  been  condemned  to  death  for  the  murder  (near  Petti- 
quamscutt  Pond)  of  William  Jackson,  a Virginia  trader.  Carter 
was  hanged  on  the  10th  of  May,  and  his  execution  was  witnessed 
by  a great  throng.  So  many  came  from  Newport  that,  it  is  said, 
fear  was  felt  there  lest  the  negro  slaves,  taking  advantage  of  the 


OLD  NARRAGANSETT 


157 


The  sports  of  the  negro  in  the  sometime  King’s 
Province  were  in  the  main  the  dancing  and  frolics 
of  Virginia ; but  com  hustings  took  the  place  of 
’coon  and  ’possum  hunts,  and  one  sport  was  thor- 
oughly unique  — the  negro  election.  It  was  held 
on  the  third  Saturday  in  June  in  each  year,  and 
was  conducted  for  the  purpose  of  choosing  a negro 
town  leader  called  the  governor.  Electioneering, 
styled  “ parmenteering,”  was  rife  for  weeks  in  ad- 
vance, and  the  result  was  determined  by  a count  of 
heads  taken  after  the  voters  (resplendent  in  pow- 
dered queues  and  monster  cocked-hats  and  swords) 
had  been  drawn  up  in  double  rank  under  the  su- 
pervision of  a grand  marshal. 

It  is  now  nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  since 
Old  Narragansett  began  to  fade  and  pass.  To-day, 
as  the  pedestrian  wends  his  way  by  the  home  of 
Gilbert  Stuart,  up  MacSparran  Hill,  and  back  three 
miles  into  the  country  to  the  site  of  St.  Paul’s 
Church,  he  finds  it  hard  to  convince  himself  that 
any  life  at  all,  save  that  of  wild  creatures,  ever  pul- 
sated in  the  solitude  about  him.  Everywhere  the 
paths  are  invaded  and  overarched  by  thickets ; the 
meadows  and  ponds  darkened  and  made  eerie  by 
surrounding  woods ; the  old-time  mansions  either 
wholly  gone  or  lapsed  into  melancholy  ruin.  St. 

absence  of  their  masters,  should  rise  in  insurrection.  MacSparran  s 
sermon,  which  covers  eighteen  pages  of  print,  may  be  found  in 
the  Narr.  Hist.  Reg.  vol.  i. 


158 


RHODE  ISLAND 


Paul’s  itself  — under  which  in  1757  MacSparran 
was  tenderly  laid  to  rest,  and  on  the  site  of  which 
his  monument  now  stands  — has  bodily  disappeared 
(object  apparently  of  aerial  witchery),  and  may 
only  be  found  by  a visit  to  Wickford.  Dr.  Edward 
Channing  has  suggestively  remarked  that  Old  Nar- 
ragansett  even  in  its  own  day  was  anomalous  in 
Khode  Island.  Based  upon  agriculture,  the  agricul- 
ture was  not  of  the  ordinary  limiting  and  particu- 
laristic sort.  It  rather  was  part  of  that  eighteenth 
century  cooperative  and  commercial  movement  of 
which  Newport  (though  less  wealthy  than  South 
Kingstown)  was  at  once  the  inlet,  the  outlet,  and 
the  heart. 


CHAPTER  VHI 


GROWTH  OF  PROVIDENCE  : STEPHEN  HOPKINS  AND 
MOSES  BROWN 

The  Old  Town  — Brown  University  — Polly  Olney  — Limitation 
of  Slavery  — Hopkins- Ward. 

Providence  in  the  eighteenth  century  is  interest- 
ing in  a special  sense.  It  began  the  century  as  the 
centre  of  the  agricultural  and  separatist  influences 
of  northern  and  northwestern  Rhode  Island.  It 
ended  it  (or  rather  the  first  three  quarters  of  it)  as 
the  commercial  peer  of  Newport. 

Inordinately  slow  was  the  town  in  taking  the 
first  step.  Down  to  1740  or  1742  it  was  still,  as  in 
the  seventeenth  century,  but  a long,  straggling 
street  by  the  water  front,  where  on  summer  even- 
ings the  inhabitants  sat  in  their  doorways,  smoked 
their  clay  pipes,  and  fought  the  swarms  of  mosqui- 
toes that  rose  from  the  marsh  opposite.  The  close 
corporation  of  (now)  one  hundred  and  one  propri- 
etors into  which  the  astuteness  of  William  Harris 
and  Thomas  Olney  had  converted  the  free  gift  of 
Roger  Williams  stood  out  resolutely  against  pro- 
gress as  represented  by  the  newer  freemen.  The 
town  was  agricultural,  and  agricultural  the  pro- 
prietors were  determined  that  it  should  remain. 


160 


RHODE  ISLAND 


As  late  as  July,  1704,  it  was  resolved  in  town  meet- 
ing tliat  no  more  “ warehouse  lots  by  the  salt  water 
side  ” should  be  granted,  as  the  space  was  needed 
as  a common  for  the  landing  of  cattle  on  their 
return  from  the  Weybosset  pastures. 

Yet  the  fact  that  some  lots  for  warehouses  and 
wharves  had  been  granted  (as  to  Pardon  Tillinghast 
in  1680)  shows  a commercial  tendency ; and  by 
1711  Nathaniel  Brown,  a Plymouth  shipwright 
forced  out  of  Massachusetts  because  of  his  Episco- 
palianism,  began  to  ply  his  trade  in  Weybosset 
Neck.  There  was  a further  sign  of  progress  in  the 
fact  that  in  1731  the  old  town  or  district  of  Provi- 
dence Plantations  (now  with  a population  of  3916) 
was  divided  into  the  four  towns,  — Providence, 
Smithfield,  Scituate,  and  Glocester. 

Among  the  earliest  Providence  merchants  were 
the  Crawfords,  Gideon  and  William.  Between  1685 
and  1720  they  traded  largely  to  the  West  Indies 
and  were  the  means  of  affording  the  slow-going 
burghers  on  the  Mooshassuc  a glimpse  of  the  great 
world  through  a display  of  wares  including  peri- 
wigs, looking-glasses,  bird-cages,  flutes,  wine-glasses, 
gold-headed  canes,  etc.  What  Providence  had  to 
give  in  exchange  for  commodities  of  any  sort  was 
chiefly  lumber  and  horses,  but  its  resources  were 
supplemented  by  those  of  western  Massachusetts. 
Privateering  (after  1739)  helped  Providence  much, 
and  the  slave  trade  (in  which  the  town  never  was 
very  ardent)  helped  it  a little. 


GROWTH  OF  PROVIDENCE 


161 


It  was  with  the  rise  to  manhood  of  the  sons  of 
William  Hopkins  and  James  Brown  that  Provi- 
dence received  its  greatest  impulse.  William  Hop- 
kins was  descended  from  Thomas,  who  was  at 
Providence  in  1638 ; and  J ames  Brown  was  the 
great-grandson  of  Chad  Brown,  the  associate  of 
Boger  Williams.  Of  the  several  sons  of  William 
Hopkins,  one  (William)  became  a celebrated  mer- 
chant ; another  (Esek)  became  commander  of  the 
first  American  fleet ; and  a third  (Stephen)  became 
the  greatest  statesman  of  Rhode  Island.  Of  the 
sons  of  James  Brown  — Nicholas,  J oseph,  John,  and 
Moses  — all  gained  eminence  as  merchants.  By 
1760  the  family  were  operating  no  less  than  eighty- 
four  sloops,  schooners,  and  brigantines.  Each  mem- 
ber, too,  had  severally  an  avocation  — the  public 
service,  science,  or  philanthropy. 

Stephen  Hopkins  was  born  in  the  town  of  Prov- 
idence [Cranston]  on  March  7, 1707.  He  removed 
to  the  “ compact  part  of  the  town  ” in  1742.  Here, 
as  his  biographer,  Mr.  William  E.  Foster,  has 
pointed  out,  he  won  prominence  as  a man,  master, 
among  other  things,  of  the  art  of  evoking  public 
improvements.  Commerce,  however,  engaged  his 
principal  thought,  and  as  early  as  1746  we  hear  of 
“ Stephen  Hopkins  & Co.” 

It  perhaps  was  about  1757  that  Moses  Brown, 
then  just  twenty  years  old,  began  to  assume  with 
Stephen  Hopkins,  his  senior  by  thirty-one  years, 
that  place  of  intimate  friend  and  trusted  colleague 


162 


RHODE  ISLAND 


which  he  ever  afterwards  held.  Brown  as  a boy  had 
been  highly  observing  and  alert.  He  had  made  it 
a practice  to  haunt  the  wharves  of  Providence, 
where  casks  of  molasses  were  constantly  being  dis- 
charged, with  the  laudable  design  of  catching  the 
drippings.  “ What  casks  are  your  best?”  asked  a 
would-be  buyer  of  an  importer  on  one  occasion. 
“ I don’t  know,”  the  latter  replied.  “ Ask  that 
little  molasses-faced  Moses ; he  will  tell  you.” 
By  1763  Moses  was  so  far  a judge  of  molasses  that 
he  was  taken  into  partnership  by  his  brothers. 
Soon  we  find  him,  in  connection  with  Hopkins  and 
such  other  public-spirited  men  outside  his  own 
family  as  Daniel  Abbott,  John  Jenckes,  Samuel 
Nightingale,  Nicholas  Cooke,  Darius  Sessions,  and 
Jabez  Bowen,  striving  to  stir  Providence  to  do 
something  for  education. 

With  Stephen  Hopkins  knowledge  had  long 
been  an  absorbing  pursuit.  In  1732  he  had  begun 
making  trips  to  Newport,  where,  gravitating  to  the 
Berkeley  group  as  iron  to  its  lode,  he  had  been  ad- 
mitted (along  with  Daniel  Updike  of  Narragansett 
and  Samuel  Johnson  of  Connecticut)  among  the 
out-of-town  members  of  the  Philosophical  Society. 
By  1750  he  had  got  together  books  with  which  to 
start  in  Providence  a public  library  : full  sets  of 
Pope,  Swift,  and  Addison ; together  with  sets  of 
Shakespeare,  Milton,  and  Bacon ; selections  from 
the  Greek  and  Latin  classics  ; and  the  standard 
works  of  the  day  on  politics,  law,  and  medicine. 


GROWTH  OF  PROVIDENCE 


163 


By  1762  lie  with  others  had  established  the  Provi- 
dence “ Gazette,”  the  early  publishers  of  which 
were  William  Goddard  and  John  Carter. 

But  just  now  (1763)  there  was  to  be  taken  in 
Rhode  Island  a step  in  the  direction  of  light  and 
learning  that  for  boldness  was  far  to  exceed  any- 
thing of  which,  as  yet,  Moses  Brown  or  Stephen 
Hopkins  could  have  dreamed.  Rhode  Island  Col- 
lege (afterwards  Brown  University)  was  to  be 
founded. 

As  early  as  1761  a college  after  the  model  of 
Yale,  though  less  sectarian,  had  been  projected  by 
Dr.  Ezra  Stiles.  Little  progress  with  it  had  been 
made,  when,  in  October,  1762,  the  Philadelphia 
Baptist  Association  decided  to  establish  a college 
in  Rhode  Island  — the  point  in  America  where  the 
Baptists  wielded  most  power.  Accordingly  in 
1763  James  Manning  — a College  of  New  Jersey 
(Princeton)  graduate  — set  out  for  Newport.  On 
arriving,  he  summoned  a meeting  of  Baptist  leaders 
and  submitted  to  them  a “ rough  draft  ” of  a char- 
ter for  “a  seminary  of  polite  literature.”  The 
seminary  was  to  be  “ subject  to  the  government  of 
the  Baptists,”  but  was  to  admit  to  its  boards  of 
control  representatives  of  other  religious  bodies. 
Manning  went  away,  and  Dr.  Stiles  as  a man  of 
“ learning  and  Catholicism  ” was  asked  to  put  the 
“ rough  draft  ” in  final  form.  He  did  it  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  divide  the  control  of  the  proposed 


164 


RHODE  ISLAND 


institution  between  the  Baptists  and  Congregation- 
alists.  To  the  latter  he  in  fact  gave  a preponder- 
ance on  the  Board  of  Fellows.  The  charter,  as 
drawn,  was  introduced  in  the  lower  house  of  the 
General  Assembly,  but  on  objection,  followed  by 
loss  of  the  instrument,  failed  of  passage.  In  1764 
a new  charter,  so  drawn  as  to  give  complete  con- 
trol to  the  Baptists  but  allowing  representation  to 
the  Quakers,  Congregationalists,  and  Episcopalians, 
was  introduced  and  passed.  The  Congregational- 
ists, because  of  their  forwardness  as  displayed  in 
the  Stiles  charter  were  accorded  one  less  represent- 
ative than  either  the  Quakers  or  Episcopalians.1 

The  charter  adopted  was  broad-minded  to  an 
extraordinary  degree.  The  college  was  denomi- 
nated “ liberal  and  catholic.”  No  religious  tests 
were  ever  to  be  admitted.  All  offices,  except  the 
office  of  president  (which  must  be  filled  by  a Bap- 
tist), and  all  professorships  were  to  be  open  to 
the  adherents  of  any  Protestant  communion.  The 
public  teaching  “ was  to  respect  the  sciences.” 
Sectarian  views  were  not  to  be  taught,  but  “all 
religious  controversies  might  be  studied  freely.” 
Upon  this  foundation,  Stephen  Hopkins,  in  1764, 

1 As  regards  Dr.  Stiles’s  own  views  in  this  connection,  they  are 
set  forth  in  a draft  of  a letter  by  him  dated  August  26,  1768. 
He  says  : “We  had  lately  a catholic  plan  for  a college  in  Rhode 
Island  but  it  turned  out  Supremacy  & Monopoly  in  the  hands  of 
the  Baptists,  whose  Influence  in  our  Assembly  was  such  that  they 
obtained  a most  ample  charter  to  their  purpose.” — Literary 
Diary , vol.  i,  p.  22,  n. ; Rider,  Book  Notes , vol.  vi,  p.  153. 


GROWTH  OF  PROVIDENCE 


165 


and  James  Manning,  in  1765,  were  chosen  respec- 
tively chancellor  and  president.  In  1769,  at  War- 
ren, where  Manning  was  conducting  a grammar 
school,  the  first  college  class  (seven  in  number) 
was  graduated.  Among  the  graduates  was  James 
M.  Varnum  the  defender,  in  1786,  of  sound  money 
in  Trevett  vs.  Weeden. 

The  young  institution,  it  is  hardly  necessary  to 
say,  was  beset  with  financial  difficulties.  Dr.  Mor- 
gan Edwards  of  Philadelphia  (long  remembered 
as  forecasting  the  day  of  his  death  and  as  surviv- 
ing that  day  to  his  own  confusion)  was  early  sent 
to  England  to  solicit  aid,  but  accomplished  little. 
At  this  time  in  Rhode  Island,  as  for  seventy-five 
years  thereafter,  lotteries  were  the  accepted  mode 
of  liquidating  hard  debts.  So  President  Manning, 
whose  own  church  had  in  1767  been  granted  the 
privilege  of  a lottery,  broached  to  one  of  his  Eng- 
lish correspondents  a lottery  project  in  aid  of  the 
college.  The  reply  which  he  received  was  remarka- 
ble for  the  day.  “ As  to  raising  money  by  a lottery,” 
runs  the  letter,  “ I dislike  it  from  the  bottom  of  my 
heart.  ’T  is  a scheme  dishonorable  to  the  supreme 
head  of  all  worlds  and  of  every  true  church.  We 
have  our  fill  of  these  cursed  gambling  lotteries  in 
London  every  year.  They  are  big  with  ten  thou- 
sand evils.  Let  the  devil’s  children  have  them  all 
to  themselves.  Let  us  not  touch  or  taste.” 

The  next  thing  thought  of  was  to  make  the 
college  (for  which  as  yet  no  building  had  been 


166 


RHODE  ISLAND 


secured)  an  object  of  competition  among  the  five 
counties,  into  which,  ere  this,  Rhode  Island  had 
been  divided.  Between  Providence  and  Newport 
— the  principal  centres  — the  contest  was  close 
and  sharp.  At  length,  on  February  7,  1770,  a 
decision  (somewhat  constructively  reached)  was 
announced  in  favor  of  Providence.  There,  on  the 
old  home  lot  of  Chad  Brown,  the  corner-stone  of 
the  first  building  (University  Hall)  was  laid,  on 
March  27,  by  John  Brown,  a lineal  descendant  of 
the  original  lot  owner.  Strong  claims  had  the 
name  “ Brown  ” upon  the  new  institution  before 
Nicholas  Brown,  Jr.,  made  to  it  in  1804  a dona- 
tion of  five  thousand  dollars.  Especially  strong 
were  these  claims  in  view  of  the  fact  that  it  was  no 
less  a person  than  Moses  Brown  who,  as  a member 
of  the  General  Assembly,  first  brought  forward 
Providence  as  a competitor  for  the  college  against 
Newport. 

In  1761,  when  the  college  question  was  broached, 
Stephen  Hopkins  was  fifty-four  years  old  and  had 
been  twice  married.  Moses  Brown,  his  friend,  was 
but  twenty-three  years  old,  and  as  yet  had  not  been 
married  at  all.  Moses,  consequently,  was  an  eligible 
bachelor  ; and  his  connection  with  a Providence- 
Boston  romance  of  the  day  — a romance  preserved 
in  old  letters  among  the  papers  of  the  Rhode  Island 
Historical  Society  — will  serve  to  admit  us  to  a 
glimpse  of  mid-eighteenth-century  philandering. 


GROWTH  OF  PROVIDENCE 


167 


Brown  was  a Free  Mason.  So  also  was  one  of  his 
friends  — William  Palfrey  of  Boston.  Early  in  17  61 
Palfrey  visited  in  Providence,  where  he  was  cordially 
entertained  by  Brown,  and  where  he  met  several  dam- 
sels. Among  them  was  Polly  Olney,  a daughter  of  the 
wealthy  innkeeper,  Joseph  Olney,  in  whose  yard  the 
Providence  “ liberty  tree  ” was  soon  to  be  dedicated.  On 
returning  to  Boston,  Palfrey  found  that  his  heart  had 
been  lost  to  Polly,  and  he  concluded  to  make  a clean 
breast  of  the  fact  to  his  friend  Brown,  then,  as  ever, 
a man  notable  for  discretion.  So,  on  March  26,  he 
wrote  asking  that  his  “ compliments  ” be  conveyed  to 
“ the  dear  Polly,”  toward  whom  he  felt  altogether  more 
than  he  was  able  “ to  express.” 

By  August  17  complications  began  to  arise.  Palfrey 
had  heard  that  Polly  was  “ being  courted  ” by  others  ; 
especially  by  one  other  — Moses  Brown  himself.  With 
some  spirit  he  laid  the  rumor  before  Brown,  professing 
“ thankfulness  ” that  he  had  “ not  as  yet  advanced  so 
far  but  that  he  could  Retreat  with  Honour.”  At  the  same 
time,  he  demanded  “ the  true  state  of  the  case  by  the 
Return  of  the  Post  without  fail.”  It  was  now  Brown’s 
turn  to  show  spirit.  -He  did  so  by  giving  a Roland  for 
an  Oliver.  Disclaiming  on  his  part  any  designs  upon 
Polly,  he  plainly  told  Palfrey  that  rumor  had  it  that  he, 
Palfrey,  was  paying  his  addresses  “ to  a young  Lady  in 
Boston,”  — a course  of  conduct  by  which  (if  it  were 
being  practiced)  he  could  but  consider  both  Polly  and 
himself  “Very  Ungenteely  Us’d.”  In  reply  Palfrey 
explained  that  the  young  Boston  lady  in  question  was  a 
Miss  Cazneau  with  whose  brother  he  was  acquainted. 
The  extent  of  his  intimacy  with  her  had  been  that  (and 


168 


RHODE  ISLAND 


that  only)  implied  in  sometimes  taking  a walk  with  her 
and  her  sisters,  or  in  occasionally  “ Carrying  her  and 
her  sisters  with  some  other  Ladies  to  a play.” 

There  now  ensued  on  the  part  of  Palfrey  a silence 
long  and  ominous.  In  fact,  he  did  not  again  write 
to  Brown  until  February  20,  1762.  What  pangs  he 
meanwhile  had  suffered  are  then  disclosed  in  detail.  He 
went,  it  would  seem,  to  Providence  in  August,  1761, 
but  found  Polly  gone  from  home.  She  was  at  New- 
port. In  desperation  he  wrote  to  her  making  a full 
avowal  of  his  passion.  He  got  no  reply.  He  resolved  on 
another  journey  to  Providence,  whither  he  “sett  out 
with  Mrs.  Eustis  who  was  going  there  to  see  the  plays  ” 
[evidently  those  noted  in  chapter  v,  which  led  to  the 
suppression  of  the  theatre  in  Rhode  Island],  but  Polly 
was  still  at  Newport.  Thereupon  the  much  disappointed 
Palfrey  himself  went  to  Newport,  where  he  found  Polly, 
but  where  “ something  or  other,”  as  he  plaintively 
records,  “ Continually  happened  which  hindered  our 
being  in  private.”  Polly  then  returned  to  Providence. 
Palfrey  attended  her,  but  found  himself  “ as  bad  off  as 
before,”  because  of  “ the  great  number  of  Travellers 
upon  the  Road.”  What  was  he  to  do?  He  contrived,  by 
the  aid  of  Polly’s  brother  “ Jo,”  a neat  stratagem.  A 
certain  Miss  Paget  was  to  invite  Polly  and  himself  to  her 
home  “ in  the  Evening  & take  an  oppor’y  of  Leaving 
us  together.”  “ This  scheme,”  he  relates,  “ took.”  With 
what  result?  With  the  result  only  that  the  ardent 
and  laborious  Palfrey  was  coolly  rejected  by  Polly, 
with  the  approved  admonition  “ to  think  no  more  of 
her.” 

So  comes  to  an  end  the  first  chapter  in  this  Provi- 


GROWTH  OF  PROVIDENCE 


169 


dence-Boston  love  tale  of  a century  and  a half  ago.  The 
second  chapter  transfers  the  characters  to  Boston. 

Palfrey,  rejected  of  Polly,  bethought  himself  straight- 
way of  Miss  Cazneau.  Toward  her  now  his  attentions 
became  marked.  At  this  critical  juncture  — just  as 
“ Miss  Cazneau  ” was  quietly  being  substituted  for  the 
once  “ dear  Polly  ” — what  should  occur  but  that  a 
long-delayed,  and  hence  unexpected,  letter  from  Moses 
Brown,  dealing  with  the  Polly  affair,  should  fall  into 
the  hands  of  the  Boston  damsel  and  be  by  her  (“  from 
Curiosity  Natural  to  her  Sex,”  as  Palfrey  put  it  to 
Brown)  opened  and  read.  The  escape  was  narrow.  It, 
however,  was  an  escape,  for  no  harm  followed.  Soon 
Palfrey  was  ready  to  inform  Brown  that  “ Miss  Caz- 
neau was  a fine  young  Lady  & every  way  Calculated  to 
render  the  marriage  State  agreeable.”  Polly  meanwhile 
(for  of  her  we  are  not  to  lose  sight)  had  taken  a journey 
to  Boston. 

On  April  16,  1762,  Palfrey  wrote  in  some  excite- 
ment to  Brown  : “ Polly  is  this  minute  gone  out  of 
the  Store,  having  come  in  with  another  young  Lady  to 
buy  some  Silks.  . . . She  did  not  seem  to  be  quite  so 
much  upon  the  Reserve  as  usual.”  On  April  27,  Palfrey 
again  wrote  : “ Polly  told  my  friend  Flagg  Last  Evening 
that  she  thought  it  would  have  looked  odd  for  a young 
Lady  to  say  Yes  so  soon  and  that  if  there  was  any  mis- 
understanding between  us  she  was  very  sorry  for  it.” 
Alas,  Polly ! Palfrey,  to  his  honor  be  it  said,  adhered 
to  his  engagement  to  Miss  Cazneau,  merely  remarking 
to  Brown  his  confidant : “ I am  sorry  I was  not  ac- 
quainted with  her  [Polly’s]  temper  and  disposition  be- 
fore, as  it  would  have  prevented  all  that  has  happened.” 


170 


RHODE  ISLAND 


The  third  chapter  in  our  love  tale  consists  of  a single 
item  in  the  columns  of  the  Providence  “ Gazette.”  On 
August  25,  1764,  there  was  published  the  following : 
“ Tuesday  evening  last,  Mr.  Thomas  Greene  of  Boston, 
merchant,  was  married  to  Miss  Polly  Olney  of  this 
town,  a young  lady  who  has  real  merit,  added  to  a 
beautiful  person,  to  grace  the  connubial  state  and  per- 
petuate its  felicity.”  After  all  it  was  not  in  vain  that 
Polly  had  journeyed  to  Boston. 

The  year  1764  — that  of  Polly’s  marriage  — was 
also  the  year  of  the  marriage  of  Moses  Brown.  He 
took  to  wife  his  cousin  Anna.  Thenceforth  busi- 
ness claimed  him  until  1773,  when  he  retired  and 
devoted  himself  to  securing  the  abolition  of  slavery 
in  Rhode  Island  and  the  curtailment  of  the  slave 
trade.  Anna  Brown  died  in  February,  1773,  and 
one  day  her  husband,  speaking  of  his  bereavement 
to  a friend,  said : “ I saw  my  slaves  with  my  spirit- 
ual eyes  as  plainly  as  I see  thee  now,  and  it  was 
given  me  as  clearly  to  understand  that  the  sacrifice 
that  was  called  for  of  my  hand  was  to  give  them 
their  liberty.”  In  December  he  manumitted  ten 
slaves. 

Next  to  Brown  the  individual  chiefly  concerned 
in  securing  effective  action  against  slavery  in  Rhode 
Island  was  Stephen  Hopkins.  In  1774  the  General 
Assembly  passed  an  act  prohibiting  the  importa- 
tion of  slaves  into  Rhode  Island.  To  this  act 
Hopkins  dictated  the  preamble,  which  recited  that 
“ those  who  are  desirous  of  enjoying  all  the  ad  van- 


GROWTH  OF  PROVIDENCE 


171 


tages  of  liberty  themselves  should  he  willing  to 
extend  personal  liberty  to  others.”  Yet  Hopkins, 
despite  his  preamble,  was  a slave  owner;  one, 
moreover,  that  had  withstood  admonition  from 
the  Quakers,  a society  to  which,  since  1755,  he  had 
himself  belonged.  Something  led  him  to  promote 
the  Act  of  1774  ; what  was  it?  Presumably  it  was 
the  course  of  the  Providence  town  meeting.  In  May 
the  town  had  resolved  that  “ it  is  unbecoming  the 
character  of  freemen  to  enslave  . . . negroes.” 
The  deputies  of  the  town,  of  whom  Hopkins  was 
one,  had  then  been  “ directed  to  use  their  endeavors 
to  obtain  an  act  prohibiting  the  importation  of 
negroes  into  this  colony  and  providing  that  all 
negroes  born  in  the  colony  are  to  be  free  after 
attaining  a certain  age.” 

The  influences  (interblending  and  cumulative) 
to  which  the  conversion  of  Moses  Brown  on  the 
slavery  question  is  to  be  attributed,  and  to  which 
also  is  to  be  attributed  the  conversion  (or  rather 
re-conversion)  on  the  same  question  of  the  Provi- 
dence town  meeting,  were  at  least  four : The  let- 
ters and  exhortations  of  the  Quakers,  the  sermons 
and  pastoral  ministrations  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land ; the  preaching  of  Dr.  Samuel  Hopkins  ; and 
the  unprofitableness  in  Rhode  Island  (outside  of 
Narragansett)  of  slavery  itself. 

The  earliest  influence  was  exerted  by  the  Quakers. 
It  was  perceptible  in  1729,  and  by  1748  (through 
the  efforts  of  John  Woolman)  was  strongly  felt. 


172 


RHODE  ISLAND 


It  culminated  in  1770  with  the  condemnation  by 
the  Rhode  Island  Yearly  Meeting  of  ownership  of 
any  negro  “ of  an  age,  capacity,  and  ability  suit- 
able for  freedom.”  Participation  by  the  Church  of 
England  in  the  local  anti-slavery  movement  was 
effective  though  indirect.  Berkeley,  Honyman, 
MacSparran,  and  the  Rev.  John  Usher  of  Bristol, 
all,  between  1730  and  1743,  sought  by  catechetical 
exercises  to  awaken  the  consciences  of  the  slaves 
and  to  lead  them  to  baptism  and  communion. 
These  efforts  were  supplemented  by  the  Rev.  Mar- 
maduke  Brown,  — a successor  to  Honyman,  — who 
in  1763,  at  Newport,  opened  a school  for  the  in- 
struction of  negroes  ; and  by  Mrs.  Mary  Brett,  — 
widow  of  Dr.  John  Brett,  — who  in  the  same  town 
opened  a similar  school  ten  years  later. 

If  the  anti-slavery  efforts  of  the  Episcopalians 
were  indirect,  such  were  not  the  efforts  of  Samuel 
Hopkins.  The  doctor,  stanch  Puritan  that  he  was, 
gathered  headway  slowly ; but  when  in  full  career 
about  1770  he  came  little  short  of  the  mark  set 
later  by  the  illustrious  company  of  Massachu- 
setts abolitionists.  His  church  contained  many 
slaveholders  and  slave  traders,  but  the  doctor  spake 
right  on.  He  said : “ Newport  has  been  built  up 
and  has  flourished  ...  at  the  expense  of  the  blood, 
the  liberty  and  happiness  of  the  poor  Africans.” 
Nor  did  he  labor  altogether  in  vain.  At  length  his 
church  was  brought  to  resolve,  that  “ the  slave 
trade  and  the  slavery  of  Africans,  as  it  has  existed 


GROWTH  OF  PROVIDENCE 


173 


among  us,  is  a gross  violation  of  the  righteousness 
and  benevolence  which  are  so  much  inculcated  in 
the  gospel,  and  therefore  we  will  not  tolerate  it  in 
this  church.”  1 

Indeed  to  such  lengths  did  Hopkins  go  that  in 
1773  he  tried  to  persuade  Dr.  Stiles  to  join  with 
him  in  sending  back  to  Africa,  as  missionaries, 
two  of  his  colored  communicants  — Quamine  and 
Yamma.  And  here  an  amusing  element  enters. 
Stiles  began  fearsomely  to  suspect  that  the  real 
object  of  his  brother  minister  in  seeking  to  send 
out  these  men  was  the  “ Christianizing  of  the  Afri- 
cans on  Principles  to  his  Mind  ” — on  principles 
not  so  much  evangelical  as  Edwardsian  and  Hop- 
kinsian.  Nothing,  unless  it  were  an  allegory  on 
the  banks  of  the  Nile,  could  be  more  ineffectively 
headstrong  than  the  Edwards-Hopkins  theology  on 
the  coast  of  Guinea,  and  that  the  broad-minded 
Ezra  Stiles  failed  to  perceive  it  argues  him  as  sadly 
deficient  in  a sense  of  humor  as  was  good  John 
Winthrop  himself-r 

Of  the  four  influences  at  work  in  Rhode  Island 
against  slavery,  the  influence  which  most  of  all 

3 In  Mr.  F.  B.  Sanborn’s  Life  and  Letters  of  John  Brown  of 
Osawatomie,  1881,  there  is  printed  a statement  made  by  Owen 
Brown,  father  of  John,  as  to  what  led  him  to  embrace  Abolition- 
ism. “ The  Rev.  Samuel  Hopkins  of  Newport,  Rhode  Island,” 
said  the  father,  “ came  to  visit  the  Rev.  Jeremiah  Hallock,  with 
whom  I lived,  and  I heard  him  talking  with  Mr.  Hallock  about 
slavery  in  Rhode  Island,  which  he  denounced  as  a great  sin. 
From  this  time  I was  anti-slavery.” 


174 


RHODE  ISLAND 


must  be  regarded  as  a determining  one  was  the 
unprofitableness  of  the  institution.  Of  the  truth  of 
this  assertion  the  law  of  1774  itself  is  proof.  That 
law  forbade  the  importation  of  slaves  into  Rhode 
Island,  but  it  took  noteworthy  pains  to  protect  and 
even  encourage  slave  importations  by  Rhode  Island- 
ers into  the  W est  Indies,  — the  place  chiefly  where 
a handsome  profit  upon  such  merchandise  was  yet 
to  be  expected. 

The  course  of  the  Narragansett  Bay  common- 
wealth in  relation  to  negro  slavery  is  not,  upon  the 
whole,  one  that  invites  applause ; yet  neither  is  it 
one  from  which  there  should  be  withheld  all  com- 
mendation. The  General  Assembly  did  not  declare 
for  emancipation  till  1784,  nor  against  participation 
in  the  foreign  slave  trade  till  1787 ; but  in  1788  it 
was  agitation  by  Rhode  Island  Quakers  (an  agita- 
tion reinforced  by  the  action  of  the  General  Assem- 
bly) that  led  to  legislation  in  Connecticut  and  Mas- 
sachusetts ; and  of  all  the  States  that  between  1787 
and  1790  deliberated  upon  the  Federal  Constitu- 
tion, Rhode  Island  alone  (by  a majority  of  one  in 
its  convention)  proposed  an  amendment  directing 
Congress  to  “ promote  and  establish  such  laws  and 
regulations  as  may  effectually  prevent  the  impor- 
tation of  slaves  of  every  description  into  the 
United  States.”  That  the  commonwealth  did  not 
do  more  against  African  bondage  than  it  did,  and 
that  it  did  not  do  it  earlier,  is  no  small  indication 
of  the  extent  to  which  the  individualism  of  the 


GROWTH  OF  PROVIDENCE 


175 


seventeenth  century  — an  individualism  capable  of 
originating  the  famous  anti-slavery  law  of  1652  — 
had  been  encroached  upon  by  the  commercialism 
of  the  eighteenth. 

But  go  back  a little.  By  1750  Providence  had 
grown  greatly  in  wealth  and  importance.  Its  pop- 
ulation now,  after  the  separation  from  it  of  Smith- 
field,  Scituate,  and  Glocester,  was  nearly  3500. 
It  was  become  a standing  challenge  to  the  political 
as  well  as  the  commercial  supremacy  of  Newport. 
Just  where  and  when,  had  it  not  been  for  Stephen 
Hopkins,  this  attitude  of  challenge  would  have 
found  a champion,  it  is  impossible  to  tell.  As  it 
was,  the  championship  fell  naturally,  and  at  once, 
to  Hopkins  himself.  The  latter,  since  his  abandon- 
ment of  rural  life  in  1742,  had  (up  to  1751)  filled 
the  positions  of  justice  of  the  Providence  Court  of 
Common  Pleas,  member  of  the  eastern  boundary 
commission,  speaker  of  the  General  Assembly, 
commissioner  to  the  Colonial  Congress  of  1746, 
member  of  the  northern  boundary  commission,1 

1 By  both  the  Massachusetts  charters,  that  of  1628  and  that 
of  1691,  the  southern  boundary  of  Massachusetts  was  fixed  at 
“ three  English  miles  on  the  south  part  of  Charles  River  or  of  any 
part  thereof.”  In  1642  Massachusetts  laid  down  the  line  but  in 
so  doing  placed  it  “ seven  miles  and  fifty-six  poles  ” south  of  the 
Charles  River.  In  1719  Rhode  Island,  in  ignorance  of  the  error 
in  the  Massachusetts  survey,  accepted  the  line  as  laid  down.  In 
1769,  upon  petition  of  Moses  Brown,  correction  was  sought  by 
the  Rhode  Island  Assembly,  and  Brown  and  Stephen  Hopkins 
were  made  members  of  a northern  boundary  commission.  The 


176 


RHODE  ISLAND 


and  justice  and  chief  justice  of  the  Superior  Court. 
Still  further  was  he  to  minister  to  the  aspirations 
of  Providence  by  entering,  in  1755,  upon  a success- 
ful contest  for  the  governorship. 

First,  however,  there  met  the  famous  Albany 
Congress,  — that  of  1754,  — and  to  it  Hopkins  was 
sent  as  a delegate.  Beginning  with  1684  there  had 
been  held  in  English  America  nine  several  con- 
gresses anent  the  French  and  Indians,  and  Rhode 
Island  had  kept  aloof  from  most  of  them.  We 
have  seen  in  chapter  iii,  how,  in  1693,  a certain 
Albany  Congress  and  its  requirements  were  ingen- 
iously evaded;  and  in  1722  the  colony  met  a plea 
from  Massachusetts  for  help  against  the  eastern 
Indians  by  asking : “ Who  knows  but  that  his 
Majesty  in  his  great  wisdom  may  find  out  and  pre- 
scribe ways  to  make  these  wild  and  inaccessible 
subjects  of  his  come  in  and  tamely  submit  to  his 
government  without  the  melancholy  prospect  we 
now  have  of  shedding  much  blood  ? ” When,  there- 
fore, Hopkins  not  merely  attended  the  Congress 
of  1754,  but,  along  with  his  colleague,  Martin 
Howard,  Jr.,  of  Newport,  voted  in  its  sessions  for 
Franklin’s  plan  of  colonial  union,  with  its  Presi- 
ident-General  to  be  appointed  by  the  crown  and 
its  Grand  Council  of  Representatives  to  be  chosen 
on  the  basis  of  population,  Rhode  Island  was  a 
good  deal  stirred. 

matter  was  not  then  disposed  of  but  recurred  in  1791,  and  later. 
In  1847-48  a “ conventional  line  ” was  established,  and  in  1883 
this  line  was  made  the  legal  boundary. 


GROWTH  OF  PROVIDENCE 


177 


It  was  in  the  face  of  no  little  detraction  that  in 
May,  1755,  Stephen  Hopkins  was  duly  elected  gov- 
ernor in  the  stead  of  Greene.  With  the  election 
referred  to,  the  spell  of  a practically  uninterrupted 
succession  of  Newport  gubernatorial  magistrates 
was  broken.  In  1727  a Providence  man,  Joseph 
Jenckes,  had  been  chosen  governor,  but  upon  elec- 
tion he  had  found  it  advisable  to  remove  to  New- 
port. Greene  himself,  though  from  Warwick,  was 
one  with  Newport  in  interest  and  sympathy.  Hop- 
kins was  like  neither  Jenckes  nor  Greene.  He 
was  the  representative  — the  champion  in  fact  — of 
Providence  in  a long  pending  and  now  irrepressible 
conflict  between  the  new  and  the  old.  The  case 
was  one  not  of  country  against  town,  as  in  the  con- 
test over  paper  money,  but  rather  (for  still  another 
time)  of  upstart  democratic  Florence  against  staid 
aristocratic  Pisa;  and  the  bitterness  engendered 
(the  bitterness  of  jealousy)  was  largely  without 
rational  foundation. 

Newport  sent  forth  into  the  lists,  as  its  represent- 
ative, Samuel  Ward,  — a young  man  of  parts  and 
education,  son  of  Governor  Rickard  Ward,  and 
owner  of  a large  estate  at  W esterly  in  the  Narragan- 
sett  country.  In  1757  Samuel  Ward  aided  in  defeat- 
ing Governor  Hopkins  for  reelection,  and  at  the 
same  time  subjected  himself  to  a suit  for  libel. 
Thenceforth,  until  1768,  Rhode  Island  politics  were 
little  else  than  an  annual  propounding  and  answer- 
ing of  one  question : Shall  Stephen  Hopkins  or 


178 


RHODE  ISLAND 


Samuel  W ard  be  governor  of  the  colony  ? in  other 
words,  shall  Newport  or  Providence  — the  rising 
North  or  the  risen  South  — wield  a preponderant 
local  influence  ? In  England  it  still  was  the  day 
politically  of  Sir  Kobert  W alpole,  — the  day  of 
bribery  elevated  into  an  art, — and  neither  Hopkins 
nor  Ward  scrupled  to  pay  to  the  example  of  the 
dead  premier  the  sincere  tribute  of  imitation.  A 
large  purchasable  vote  would  seem  to  have  been 
found  in  King’s  County,  for  the  efforts  put  forth 
to  carry  that  county  have  been  described  as  com- 
mensurate relatively  with  those  later  put  forth,  in 
a different  field,  “ to  carry  Indiana.”  Of  course 
the  animosity  aroused  by  political  warfare  of  the 
kind  described  — like  that  of  the  tribal  feud  — was 
implacable;  and  when,  in  1768,  an  arrangement 
was  at  length  concluded  by  which  Hopkins  and 
Ward  each  yielded  his  pretensions  to  first  place, 
it  was  cause  for  hearty  rejoicing.  The  ten  years 
of  Hopkins  against  Ward  may  be  taken  to  have 
thoroughly  demonstrated  the  weight  and  growing 
importance  of  Providence.  During  the  entire 
period  W ard  — in  every  way  a fit  counterpoise  to 
Hopkins 1 — obtained  the  governorship  but  three 
times. 

1 “ I well  knew  Gov.  Hopkins.  He  was  a man  of  a penetrating 
astntions  Genius,  full  of  Subtlety,  deep  Cunning,  intriguing  and 
enterprizing.  He  read  much  esp7  in  History  & Government ; 
& by  read*  Conoversa  & Observa  acquired  a great  Fund  of 
political  Knowledge.  He  was  rather  a Quaker,  hav*  a seat  in 
the  meeting,  but  it  has  been  said  these  thirty  years  by  his  most 


GROWTH  OF  PROVIDENCE 


179 


intimate  Acquainta  that  he  was  a Deist,  and  of  this  I made  no 
doubt  from  my  own  frequent  Conversa  with  him.  He  was  a man 
of  a noble  fortitude  & Resolution.  He  was  a glorious  Patriot ! 
— [but  Jesus  will  say  unto  him  I know  you  not].”  — Stiles,  Liter- 
ary Diary , vol.  iii,  p.  172. 


CHAPTER  IX 


CONSTITUTIONAL  DEVELOPMENT 

Soul  Liberty  — The  Suffrage  — The  Function  of  Legislation  — 
Legislature-Judiciary. 

In  both  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries 
the  main  feature  of  Rhode  Island  constitutional 
development  was  distrust  of  delegated  power.  In 
the  seventeenth  century  distrust  showed  itself  in 
the  political  system.  Local  communities  — the 
towns  — were  independent  to  a great  degree  of  the 
central  authority  to  which  nominally  they  were 
subordinate.  In  the  eighteenth  century  — after 
town  subordination  had  been  effected  — distrust 
was  shown  in  the  administrative  system.  Executive 
and  judicial  departments  were  kept  subject  to  the 
immediate  will  of  the  freemen  through  an  omnipo- 
tent legislature  semiannually  renewed. 

But  first  a word  apropos  of  Soul  Liberty,  the 
suffrage,  and  the  exercise  of  the  function  of  legis- 
lation in  eighteenth  century  Rhode  Island. 

i 

At  Newport,  upon  one  occasion  after  1700,  the 
Jews  were  accorded  illiberal  treatment.  In  1762 
Aaron  Lopez  and  Isaac  Elizar  applied  for  natu- 


CONSTITUTIONAL  DEVELOPMENT  181 


ralization  under  the  English  statute  the  13th  of 
George  II,  and  were  denied  by  the  Superior  Court 
on  two  grounds : on  the  ground,  first  (divertingly 
transparent),  that  the  colony  was  already  “so  full 
of  people  that  many  of  his  Majesty’s  good  subjects, 
born  within  the  same,  have  removed  and  settled  in 
Nova  Scotia;  ” 1 on  the  ground,  second,  that  by  the 
charter  “ the  propagating  of  the  Christian  reli- 
gion ” was  one  of  the  chief  ends  of  the  founding  of 
Rhode  Island,  and  that  the  General  Assembly,  in 
1663,  had  enacted  that  “ no  person  who  does  not 
profess  the  Christian  religion  can  be  admitted  free 
of  this  colony.”  2 

It  is  with  difficulty  that  one  can  be  persuaded 
that  words  such  as  these  were  ever  uttered  by 
the  highest  judicial  body  in  the  commonwealth 

1 The  Nova  Scotia  movement  is  described  in  detail  by  Mr.  R.  G. 
Hilling-  in  the  Narr.  Hist.  Reg.  vol.  vii.  A g-ood  many  were  con- 
cerned in  it  — over  one  hundred  persons.  If  the  colony  was 
crowded  (its  total  population  in  1762  did  not  exceed  43,000 
souls),  the  removal  of  the  Nova  Scotia  contingent  certainly  made 
room  enough  for  a few  families  of  Hebrews. 

2 The  statement  that  the  colony  in  1663  had  passed  a law  re- 
stricting the  freemanship  or  elective  franchise  to  Christians  was 
presumably  based  upon  the  fact  that  the  Charter  of  1663  (after 
the  style  of  royal  charters  of  the  day)  abounded  in  expressions  of 
pious  regard  for  the  furtherance  of  the  Christian  religion.  Such 
expressions  possibly  may  have  been  understood  by  some  as  carry- 
ing the  force  of  legislation.  Between  the  Patent  of  1644  (which 
was  displaced  by  the  Charter  of  1663)  and  the  charter  itself,  the 
difference  in  respect  to  pious  ascriptions  and  avowals  is  marked. 
In  the  patent  there  is  no  allusion  to  Christ  or  Christianity,  and 
only  a passing  allusion  to  the  Deity. 


182 


RHODE  ISLAND 


established  by  Roger  Williams,  — a commonwealth 
where  “ a permission  of  the  most  Paganish,  J ew- 
ish,  Turkish,  and  Antichristian  consciences  and 
worships  ” was,  under  no  circumstances,  to  be 
abridged. 

Is  it,  indeed  (we  are  led  to  ask),  true  as  averred 
by  the  court  that  in  1663  Rhode  Island  passed  an 
act  limiting  the  freemanship  to  Christians  ? It  is 
not  true  that  such  an  act  was  passed  in  1663,  or 
that  such  an  act  ever  was  passed  in  the  usual  mode 
and  upon  debate.  It  is  true  that  in  1719  an  act  of 
the  year  1665  was  so  modified  by  the  interpolation 
of  words,  “ professing  Christianity,”  as  to  read : 
“ All  men  professing  Christianity,  . . . though  of 
different  judgments  in  religion,  . . . shall  be  ad- 
mitted freemen,”  etc.  The  act  as  modified  had  its 
origin  with  a revising  committee  of  the  General 
Assembly.  It  appeared  first  in  the  digest  of  1719, 
— a digest  that  so  far  as  known  never  was  adopted 
by  the  Assembly.  By  subsequent  revising  commit- 
tees it  was  permitted  to  pass  into  the  digests  of 
1730,  1744,  and  1767,  which  were  adopted. 

The  court,  therefore,  illiberal  though  it  were  in 
denying  freemanship  to  Lopez  and  Elizar,  must  be 
allowed  the  benefit  of  the  plea  that  it  was  within 
an  act  of  the  colony ; an  act  repugnant  to  the 
statute  of  George  II,  but  one  which  the  court 
nevertheless  may  not  have  felt  itself  at  liberty  to 
disregard. 

There  is  yet  a further  phase  to  the  act  of  1665. 


CONSTITUTIONAL  DEVELOPMENT  183 


Not  only  was  it  radically  modified  by  the  inter- 
polation of  the  words,  “ professing  Christianity ; ” 
it  was  modified  still  more  radically  by  the  inter- 
polation of  the  words,  “ Roman  Catholics  only 
excepted.”  In  Rhode  Island  after  1730  not  only 
were  none  but  Christians  eligible  by  local  law  to  the 
freemanship,  but  of  Christians  themselves  only  a 
certain  sort  were  eligible,  namely,  such  as  were  not 
Roman  Catholics.  In  the  case  of  the  Catholics, 
however,  if  not  in  that  of  the  Jews,  the  local  law 
was  purely  a dead  letter.  To  furnish  an  example  : 
Stephen  Decatur,  a Catholic  and  a Genoese,  — the 
grandfather  of  the  illustrious  commodore  of  that 
name,  — was  made  a freeman  in  1735. 

It  was  not  until  1783  that  the  altogether  un- 
Rhode  Island-like  statute  in  question  was  abro- 
gated. But  despite  this  fact  one  thing  may  be  said 
of  it.  The  feeling  that  inspired  it  was  confined  to 
so  few  that  had  the  law  not  found  its  way  into  the 
statute  book  in  the  covert  way  that  it  did,  it  prob- 
ably never  would  have  found  its  way  there  at  all. 
A colony  which  had  not  hesitated  to  withstand  as 
contrary  to  its  charter  the  command  of  the  crown 
to  subject  its  militia  to  the  control  of  Sir  William 
Phips ; a colony,  moreover,  which  in  1735  had  em- 
powered its  Superior  Court  to  restrain  by  injunc- 
tion his  Majesty’s  Court  of  Admiralty ; such  a 
colony  would  in  the  first  instance  hardly  have  hesi- 
tated to  reject  as  contrary  to  its  charter  a proposi- 
tion by  which  it  was  to  be  cut  off,  through  the  most 


184: 


RHODE  ISLAND 


odious  of  tests  (a  religious  one),  from  ever  electing 
to  the  smallest  office,  or  even  permitting  to  cast  a 
single  vote,  a Jew  like  Lopez,  a Catholic  like  De- 
catur, or  any  one  of  the  Deistical  thinkers  in  which 
it  abounded  and  had  abounded  from  the  days  of 
the  English  Commonwealth.1 

Concerning  the  suffrage  in  Rhode  Island,  two 
observations  by  distinguished  Rhode  Islanders  of 
the  past  (Mr.  Henry  C.  Dorr  and  Mr.  Samuel  Gr. 
Arnold)  will  furnish  us  with  what  probably  is  the 
clue  to  it.  Says  Mr.  Dorr : “ Solvency  has  at  all 
times  held  the  same  place  in  Rhode  Island  which 

1 While  neither  Mr.  S.  G.  Arnold  nor  Mr.  S.  S.  Rider  expresses 
approval  of  the  interpolation  which  burdened  the  laws  of  Rhode 
Island  with  a religious  test  for  the  f reemanship,  both  writers  offer 
a plea  in  extenuation.  They  say  (Hist.  It.  I.  yol,  ii,  p.  494 ; Hist. 
Tract  (2d  ser.)  No.  1) : Neither  Jews,  Catholics,  nor  any  other 
communion  had  ever  been  guaranteed  political  privileges  by 
Rhode  Island,  so  when  denied  such  privileges  there  they  could  not 
logically  complain.  But  in  this  plea  there  would  seem  to  be  lost 
to  view  what  the  Rhode  Island  idea,  as  a working  doctrine,  really 
was.  According  to  that  idea  no  man,  however  much  he  might  be 
discriminated  against  for  other  causes,  ought  to  be  discriminated 
against  merely  for  cause  of  religion.  Had  the  colony  in  the  seven- 
teenth century  assumed  ground  different  from  this,  it  would  have 
puzzled  seekers  after  Soul  Liberty  to  distinguish  between  what 
was  offered  them  in  Rhode  Island  and  what,  for  instance,  was 
offered  them  in  the  proprietary  and  royal  province  of  North  Car- 
olina, where  Soul  Liberty  (including  the  privilege  of  voting)  was 
to  be  obtained  for  a price,  for  the  yielding  up  of  money  in  the 
form  of  a tax.  The  circumstance  that  in  Rhode  Island  the  anti- 
Jewish  and  anti-Catholic  statute  was  systematically  ignored,  shows 
that  instinctively  the  people  realized  the  incompatibility  between 
it  and  the  Rhode  Island  idea. 


CONSTITUTIONAL  DEVELOPMENT  185 


Puritan  orthodoxy  once  held  in  Massachusetts ; ” 
therefore  (to  pass  now  to  Mr.  Arnold),  “the  col- 
ony was  a close  corporation  and  has  ever  remained 
so.”  In  other  words : while  Plymouth,  Massachu- 
setts, Connecticut,  and  New  Haven  were  each  a 
close  corporation  from  religious  motives,  Rhode 
Island  was  such  from  the  highly  secular  motive  of 
acquisitiveness. 

To  this  conclusion  ample  support  is  lent  by  the 
facts. 

Massachusetts  throughout  the  entire  period  of  its 
first  charter  (1628-1684)  kept  religion  foremost  as 
the  touchstone  for  the  freemanship  or  right  to  vote. 
At  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  the  Cambridge  Plat- 
form (1648),  “orthodoxy  in  eighty-nine  [two]  dif- 
ferent articles  ” (according  to  Mr.  John  A.  Doyle) 
was  needful  for  the  franchise.  Even  upon  the  de- 
mand of  the  royal  commissioners  for  a pure  pro- 
perty qualification  in  1664,  the  law  was  so  contrived 
that,  as  the  commissioners  said,  “ he  that  is  a church- 
member,  though  he  be  a servant  and  pay  not  two 
pence,  may  be  a freeman.”  It  was  not  until  the 
conversion  of  Massachusetts  into  a royal  province  in 
1691  that  a pure  property  qualification  — a freehold 
worth  £2  a year  or  personalty  worth  <£40  — brought 
with  it  the  franchise.  New  Haven,  too,  never  based 
the  freemanship  on  property ; while,  as  for  Plym- 
outh and  Connecticut,  both  (as  Professor  Herbert 
L.  Osgood  has  recently  shown)  made  religion  the 
practical,  if  not  uniformly  the  statutory,  test. 


186 


RHODE  ISLAND 


In  Rhode  Island  it  was  otherwise.  There,  at  the 
outset  (under  town  rule),  the  freeman  was  the  free- 
holder.1 It  is  true  that  in  1665,  in  connection  with 
the  visit  of  the  royal  commissioners,  an  act  was 
passed  providing  for  the  admission  of  colony  free- 
men upon  proof  of  their  being  merely  “ of  compe- 
tent estates ; ” but  this  act  was  deemed  by  Rhode 
Islanders  at  once  too  undiscriminating  and  too  cen- 
tralists. In  1724  a law  went  into  effect  by  which 
the  colony  fixed  the  property  qualification  for  col- 
ony freemen  at  <£100  freehold  (approximately 
$134),  or  at  £2  freehold  income,  yet  gave  back 
into  local  hands  (the  towns)  something  of  their 
original  power  over  the  colony  franchise.  Persons 
who  had  been  made  free  of  a town,  even  though 


1 “ Landholding  was  closely  associated  with  the  right  to  exer- 
cise the  franchise.  Providence,  on  May  15,  1658,  ‘ Ordered  yt 
all  those  that  injoy  land  in  ye  jurisdiction  of  this  Towne  are  free- 
men.’ ” — George  G.  Wilson,  “ The  Political  Development  of  the 
Towns,”  Field’s  R.  I.  at  the  End  of  the  Century,  vol.  iii,  chap.  i. 
See  also  H.  K.  Stokes,  “ The  Finances  and  Administration  of 
Providence,”  J.  H.  U.  Studies,  extra  vol.  xxv,  p.  33  and  n. 

“ That  rule  [democracy]  was  perfectly  consistent,  at  the  foun- 
dation of  the  State,  and  long  after,  with  a landed  qualification.  It 
was  then  in  this  State,  as  it  is  now  in  our  newly  settled  western 
States  ; — he  who  did  not  own  land  owned  nothing.  ...  But  the 
condition  of  things  has  changed,”  etc.  — Thomas  W.  Dorr,  Address 
to  the  People  of  Rhode  Island,  1834. 

“ There  was  no  need  [in  1665]  of  formally  requiring  the  owner- 
ship of  real  estate  as  a qualification  for  the  franchise,  for  at  that 
period  nearly  all  the  permanent  inhabitants  of  Rhode  Island  were 
freeholders.”  — Francis  Bowen,  “ The  Recent  Contest  in  Rhode 
Island,”  North  Am.  Rev.  vol.  lviii. 


CONSTITUTIONAL  DEVELOPMENT  187 


they  had  not  been  made  free  of  the  colony,  were 
permitted  to  vote  for  deputies  to  the  General  Assem- 
bly. At  the  same  time,  by  an  adaptation  from  the 
waning  custom  of  primogeniture,  the  eldest  son  of 
a freeman  was  permitted  to  vote  in  right  of  the 
freehold  of  his  father.1 

Upon  these  two  acts — the  act  expressly  attach- 
ing the  suffrage  to  the  freehold  yet  reserving  the 
selection  of  the  particular  suffragist  to  the  local 
unit  or  town,  and  the  act  enfranchising  a free- 
man’s eldest  son  (both  of  them  the  acts  not  only 
of  a close  corporation  but  of  one  based  upon  Mr. 
Dorr’s  principle  of  solvency  or  acquisition)  — there 
hung  in  Rhode  Island,  until  late  in  the  nineteenth 
century,  all  of  the  law  and  the  prophets  in  respect 
to  voting. 

With  regard  now  to  the  exercise  of  the  legislative 
function.  By  the  Rhode  Island  charter  the  depu- 
ties or  immediate  representatives  of  the  people 
were,  as  will  be  remembered,  a locally  chosen  body 
composed  of  six  from  Newport,  four  from  Provi- 
dence, Portsmouth,  and  Warwick,  and  two  from 
each  town  additional.  The  assistants,  or  council, 
on  the  other  hand,  were  an  unvarying  body  of  ten 
chosen  by  general  vote.  In  1696  the  deputies  and 
assistants  became  permanently  separated  into  dis- 
tinct branches.  In  1722  the  town  of  Kingstown 

1 In  England  the  heir  apparent  of  a peer,  or  of  a freeman,  was 
allowed  to  vote.  — Statutes  of  Anne,  chap,  v ; 3d  George  II,  chap. 


xv. 


188 


RHODE  ISLAND 


was  divided  into  the  towns  of  North  Kingstown 
and  South  Kingstown,  and  to  each  there  was 
allowed  an  assistant  or  member  of  the  upper 
branch  of  the  Assembly.  By  this  act,  which  made 
the  number  of  towns  equal  to  the  number  of  as- 
sistants (ten),  there  was  established  a precedent 
for  the  practice  of  introducing  a member  into  the 
house  of  assistants  for  each  new  town  organized, 
and  so  virtually  of  converting  the  Rhode  Island 
upper  house  into  what  it  is  to-day — a body  of 
representatives  more  intensely  local  than  the  house 
of  deputies. 


ii. 

The  dominance  in  Rhode  Island  of  the  legisla- 
ture over  the  executive  and  judiciary  — a domi- 
nance at  present  as  great  as  ever  in  the  case  of  the 
executive,  and  only  in  1860  finally  gotten  rid  of 
in  the  case  of  the  judiciary  — was  at  its  height  in 
the  eighteenth  century. 

In  none  of  the  New  England  colonies  was  the 
governor  by  and  of  himself  a chief  executive.  This 
function  was  reserved  to  the  governor  and  assist- 
ants. When,  therefore,  in  1731  Governor  Jenckes 
raised  the  question  of  the  right  of  veto  as  pertain- 
ing to  his  position,  it  was  easy  for  the  crown,  by 
a citation  of  the  colonial  charter,  to  answer  him. 
Only  royal  governors  might  veto  ; not  even  a John 
Winthrop  or  a John  Endicott  could  do  it,  govern- 
ors as  they  were  purely  by  grace  of  charter.  So 


CONSTITUTIONAL  DEVELOPMENT  189 


Rhode  Island  was  not  peculiar  in  that  during  its 
nonage  its  governor  was  largely  a figurehead.  What 
perhaps  is  peculiar  is  that  Rhode  Island  as  a State 
should,  along  with  Delaware,  North  Carolina,  and 
Ohio,  have  withheld  from  its  governor  the  veto 
power.  The  peculiarity,  though,  disappears  when 
it  is  remembered  that  by  means  of  such  power  the 
immediate  will  of  the  town  freemen  (as,  for  instance, 
on  a question  like  that  of  paper  money)  might  be 
given  a check. 

But  while  the  governor  as  against  the  General 
Assembly  was  (and  still  is)  helpless,  it  was  differ- 
ent with  the  judiciary.  In  Rhode  Island,  as  in  the 
rest  of  New  England,  the  principal  early  judicial 
body  was  the  Court  of  Assistants,  or  General 
Court  of  Trials,  consisting  of  the  assistants  them- 
selves (to  the  number  of  not  less  than  six)  rein- 
forced by  the  governor  and  deputy-governor.  This 
court  under  the  Charter  of  1663  exercised  jurisdic- 
tion both  appellate  and  original ; but  its  action  was 
subject  to  review  by  the  General  Assembly,  called 
also  the  General  Court  of  the  colony.  The  ground 
of  the  right  of  review  claimed  and  exercised  by  the 
Assembly  was  set  forth  substantially  under  the 
first  charter.  In  1647  it  was  enacted  that  “ in  case 
a man  sues  for  justice  and  he  cannot  be  heard,  or 
is  heard  and  cannot  be  righted  by  any  Law  extant 
among  us,  then  shall  the  partie  grieved  petition  to 
the  Generali  or  Law  making  Assemblie,  and  shall 
be  relieved.”  What  here  the  Assembly  asserted 


190 


RHODE  ISLAND 


was  not  the  competency  of  a court  of  law  but  a 
general  competency  to  do  justice  — a chancery 
competency ; accordingly  when  in  later  days  mat- 
ters were  brought  before  it  from  the  courts,  they 
were  spoken  of  as  brought  to  be  “ chancer ized.” 
At  first,  too,  the  distinction  was  more  or  less  re- 
garded, for  in  1678  the  Assembly  expressed  im- 
patience at  an  appeal  which  it  was  asked  to  enter- 
tain. By  1680,  however,  its  appellate  duty,  as  well 
as  authority,  was  formally  recognized. 

Nor  in  all  this  did  Rhode  Island  act  very  differ- 
ently from  Massachusetts  or  Connecticut.  In  both 
of  these  colonies  the  General  Assembly  entertained 
appeals  and  served  as  a court  of  chancery ; though 
in  Massachusetts  the  practice  ceased  with  the  seven- 
teenth century,  and  in  Connecticut  with  the  second 
decade  of  the  nineteenth.  The  longer  continuance 
of  the  practice  in  Rhode  Island,  coupled  with  the 
bitter  struggle  waged  there  between  legislature  and 
judiciary,  makes  evident  the  more  intense  distrust 
of  delegated  power  felt  in  the  Roger  Williams 
colony. 

The  four  legislative  acts  to  which  were  due  the 
existence  of  a Rhode  Island  judiciary  separate  and 
distinct  from  the  upper  house  of  the  legislature 
were  those  of  1703, 1729, 1741,  and  1747  ; and  the 
earliest  and  latest  of  them  were  attended  by  the 
creation  of  counties,  an  indication  of  how  purely  a 
contrivance  for  judicial  purposes  the  Rhode  Island 
county  is.  The  Act  of  1703  divided  the  colony  into 


CONSTITUTIONAL  DEVELOPMENT  191 


two  counties  — the  county  of  Providence  (the  main- 
land) and  that  of  Rhode  Island  (the  islands),  and 
provided  for  two  civil  courts  (inferior  courts  of 
common  pleas)  in  each.  The  Act  of  1729  provided 
for  a criminal  court  (a  court  of  general  sessions  of 
the  peace)  in  each  county,  and  changed  the  name 
of  the  Court  of  Trials  to  that  of  Superior  Court 
of  Judicature.  The  Act  of  1741  created  an  equity 
court  of  five  judges  to  hear  appeals  in  lieu  of  the 
General  Assembly,  but  this  act  was  repealed  in 
1743.  In  1747  (when,  in  connection  with  the  settle- 
ment of  the  eastern  boundary  with  Massachusetts, 
the  county  of  Bristol  was  created)  the  courts  of 
common  pleas  were  reorganized,  and  the  Superior 
Court  was  made  to  consist,  with  enlarged  powers, 
of  one  chief  justice  and  four  associates  annually  to 
be  chosen  by  the  General  Assembly.  Complete 
formal  separation  of  judiciary  from  legislature  had 
thus  by  1747  been  secured.  Still,  in  1780,  it  was 
found  expedient  to  enact  that  no  member  of  either 
branch  of  the  General  Assembly  should  be  eligible 
to  the  office  of  justice  of  the  Superior  Court. 

The  extreme  jealousy  of  judicial  power  felt  by 
Rhode  Islanders  before  the  final  establishment 
among  them  of  the  Superior  Court  of  Judicature 
was  not  soon  modified.  In  1708  an  appellee,  grieved 
at  the  action  of  the  General  Assembly  in  a par- 
ticular case,  had  appealed  to  the  crown,  and  the 
queen  in  council  had  sustained  the  appeal,  refus- 
ing to  sanction  the  exercise  of  chancery  power  by  a 


192 


RHODE  ISLAND 


legislative  body.  Upon  this  the  wily  assembly  had 
merely  provided  for  a procedure  before  it  by  “ pe- 
tition,” and  had  continued  to  entertain  appeals  as 
aforetime.  Such  appeals  after  1747,  despite  the 
enlarged  jurisdiction  of  the  Superior  Court,  the 
Assembly  still  welcomed.  It  also  seemingly  encour- 
aged a practice  by  which  three  jury  trials  of  the 
same  issue  might  be  obtained  : one  to  secure  a ver- 
dict ; another  to  secure  a different  verdict ; and  a 
third  to  secure  a verdict  in  confirmation  of  one  of 
the  other  two ; all,  moreover,  as  mayhap  but  pre- 
liminary to  a prayer  for  legislative  interposition. 

In  yet  two  other  ways  did  Rhode  Islanders  of 
the  eighteenth  century  manifest  their  distrust  of  a 
separate  judiciary  : by  permitting  the  appointment 
of  very  few  lawyers  to  positions  upon  the  bench 
(albeit  among  the  appointees  are  some  illustrious 
names  — Hopkins,  Ward,  Ellery,  Howell)  and  by 
arrogating  to  themselves,  through  the  General 
Assembly,  the  power  not  merely  of  commuting  sen- 
tences but  of  entirely  abrogating  them.  A striking 
instance  of  abrogation  is  that  in  which  the  priva- 
teersman Simeon  Potter,  who  had  retired  to  Bristol 
in  1750,  was  in  1761  cleared  of  a conviction  and 
heavy  fine  meted  out  to  him  for  assaulting  the  Rev. 
John  Usher. 

Slow  was  the  development  of  Rhode  Island  judi- 
cial power,  but  development  nevertheless  there  was. 
In  1768  the  Superior  Court  (in  Randall  vs.  Robin- 
son) took  sharp  issue  with  the  legislature,  and  in 


CONSTITUTIONAL  DEVELOPMENT  193 


1786  (in  Trevett  vs.  Weeden ) it  maintained  reso- 
lutely the  responsibility  of  its  members  to  God 
alone  for  their  conscientious  judgments. 

From  a point  of  view  distinctively  economic  and 
social,  the  eighteenth  century  in  Rhode  Island  was 
a period  of  cooperation  due  to  commerce.  From  a 
point  of  view  distinctively  political  and  constitu- 
tional, it  was,  as  the  present  chapter  has  shown, 
a period  marked  by  the  old  particularism.  One 
influence  may  be  noted  (constitutional  as  well  as 
economic)  which  made  for  cooperation,  and  that 
was  the  influence  arising  from  the  incorporation 
with  the  commonwealth  in  1747  of  the  Plymouth- 
Massachusetts  towns.  “ When,”  says  Mr.  William 
E.  Foster,  speaking  of  Cumberland,  Warren,  Bris- 
tol, Tiverton,  and  Little  Compton,  “ the  stress  of 
British  hostilities,  of  [post-Revolutionary]  paper 
money  madness,  and  of  opposition  to  the  constitu- 
tion, called  for  the  best  energies,  and  the  best 
intelligence  of  Rhode  Island  men,  no  towns  were 
more  steadfast  in  the  defense  of  correct  principles 
than  these.” 

Note  by  Dr.  Frank  G.  Bates  on  local  government  in  Rhode 
Island : — 

The  Rhode  Island  town  to-day  conforms  externally  to  the  New 
England  type,  but  is  socially  less  firmly  knitted  than  elsewhere 
in  New  England. 

The  process  of  town  formation,  even  at  first,  was  scarcely  or- 
ganic. No  new  centre  was  deliberately  selected.  There  was  no 
village  green,  no  common  meeting-house  or  school,  no  dominant 


194 


RHODE  ISLAND 


ecclesiastical  bond,  nothing  about  -which  society  could  organize. 
When  towns  of  large  area  were  subdivided,  there  being  no  cen- 
tres, it  was  done  by  a purely  arbitrary  process,  more  suggestive 
iu  its  somewhat  rectangular  product  of  New  York  or  the  Middle 
West  than  of  New  England. 

The  result  of  such  a course  of  development  has  been  a lack  of 
common  interests,  of  common  action,  and  of  civic  pride.  In  spite 
of  unfavorable  environment  instances  have  occurred  where  chance 
centres  have  sought  but  failed  to  give  expression  by  the  formation 
of  a new  town  to  an  acquired  sense  of  unity. 

Though  population  has  become  dense,  town  subdivision  is  the 
exception ; towns  have  long  deferred  becoming  cities ; and  no  in- 
termediate form  exists,  save  a rudimentary  organization  called  a 
“ fire  district.”  This  institution  of  narrow  powers  recalls  condi- 
tions in  England  before  the  recent  reforms  in  local  government. 

From  the  beginning  the  town  councils  exercised  probate  juris- 
diction. A recent  attempt  to  transfer  this  power  to  circuit  judges 
of  probate  chosen  by  the  General  Assembly  has  been  defeated  by 
the  rural  vote,  as  an  invasion  of  local  privilege. 


PART  III 


UNIFICATION  AND  MANUFACTURES 


1764-1905 


CHAPTER  X 


PORTENTS  OF  REVOLUTION 

Causes  of  Resistance  — Affair  of  the  Gaspee  — Loyalism  at  New- 
port — Creation  of  a United  States  Navy. 

By  slow  degrees  two  convictions  have  gained  the 
minds  of  writers  of  American  history : one,  that 
the  American  Revolution  was  not  the  outcome  cf 
causes  suddenly  arising  at  the  close  of  the  Seven 
Years’  War,  — causes  converting  into  rebels  a peo- 
ple hitherto  fundamentally  loyal  and  content ; the 
other,  that  the  causes  of  the  Revolution,  whatever 
they  were,  varied  considerably  with  the  locality. 

In  the  case  of  Massachusetts,  the  leading  cause 
of  revolt  was  Puritanism  itself  with  its  inbred  fear 
of  curtailment  and  even  of  ultimate  suppression 
at  the  hands  of  the  established  church.  A strong 
secondary  cause  was  the  renewal  and  enforcement, 
in  and  after  1764,  of  the  Sugar  Act  of  1733.  In 
the  case  of  Virginia  and  South  Carolina,  aliena- 
tion matured  step  by  step  out  of  the  assertion 
and  counter  assertion,  on  the  part  alike  of  popular 
assembly  and  royal  governor,  of  many  sorts  of 
“ rights.” 

But  to  say  these  things  is  to  say  naught  else  than 
that  the  American  colonies  (both  northern  and 


198 


RHODE  ISLAND 


southern)  had  from  the  first  resented  almost  every 
kind  of  interposition  by  the  mother  country,  and, 
finally,  were  brought  to  rebellion  because  of  such 
interposition.  What  form  the  interposition  took 
mattered  little.  Orders  and  measures  salutary  and 
constitutional  — such  as  those  suppressing  piracy 
and  paper  money  and  providing  for  appeals  to  the 
king  in  council,  or  such  as  the  Navigation  Act 
of  the  14th  of  Charles  II,  which  actually  stimu- 
lated New  England  ship-building  — were  abhorred 
equally  with  measures  like  the  Sugar  Act  and  the 
Stamp  Act,  which,  whether  constitutional  or  not, 
were  blundering.  As  Adam  Smith  put  the  matter 
with  regard  to  the  Acts  of  Trade:  “These  mea- 
sures (barring  the  Sugar  Act),  while  not  cramp- 
ing American  industry,  or  restraining  it  from  any 
employment  to  which  it  would  have  gone  of  its  own 
accord,  are  impertinent  badges  of  slavery.”  It  was 
the  “ impertinence  ” of  unacceptable  interposition 
that  led  at  length  to  hostilities. 

But  how  had  this  interposition  been  shown  to- 
ward Rhode  Island  ? What,  there,  had  the  English 
government  all  along  been  doing,  which,  because 
of  its  “ impertinence  ” (real  and  so-called),  gave 
rise  to  the  spirit  of  resistance  ? 

Down  to  the  days  of  the  quo  warranto  against  its 
charter  (1686),  Rhode  Island  had  had  no  quarrel 
with  the  crown,  and  for  a threefold  reason:  be- 
cause, in  its  long  contest  with  Massachusetts  and 
Connecticut  it  had  had  only  the  crown  to  look  to 


PORTENTS  OF  REVOLUTION 


199 


for  support ; because,  having  no  state  religion  it 
had  put  no  affront  upon  Episcopalians,  Baptists, 
or  Quakers;  and  because,  having  no  royal  gov- 
ernor its  acts  and  temper  had  never  much  been 
inquired  into.  Indeed,  so  loyal  and  obedient  to  the 
crown  had  the  colony  always  proved  to  be,  that, 
upon  the  return  of  the  king’s  commissioners  in 
1666,  it  had  been  especially  named  and  commended 
by  Charles  II  as  an  example  to  the  rest  of  New 
England.  Nor  did  this  loyalty  and  obedience  suffer 
diminution  from  the  quo  warranto  itself.  Upon 
the  issuing  of  the  writ,  the  General  Assembly  at 
once  resolved  “ not  to  stand  suit  with  his  Majesty  ” 
— a resolution  happy  in  its  effect,  for  when  Sir 
Edmund  Andros  in  the  discharge  of  his  duty  found 
it  incumbent  upon  him  to  ask  for  the  actual  sur- 
render of  the  charter,  he  did  so  in  words  that 
broached  on  regret. 

Rhode  Island’s  troubles  began  with  the  deter- 
mined efforts  against  piracy  put  forth  under  Bello- 
mont  in  1699 ; were  continued  by  the  executive 
and  Parliamentary  measures  against  paper  money 
taken  between  1720  and  1751;  were  heightened 
by  the  passage  of  the  Sugar  Act  in  1733;  were 
still  further  heightened  by  an  attempt  of  the  crown 
to  control  the  naval  office  at  Newport  in  1743; 
and  were  brought  to  a climax  by  the  renewal  of 
the  Sugar  Act  and  proposal  of  a Stamp  Act  in 
1764.  These,  in  short,  were  the  items  of  unaccept- 
able, and  hence  of  “impertinent,”  interposition 


200 


RHODE  ISLAND 


which  gave  rise  to  the  spirit  of  resistance  in  Rhode 
Island. 

On  October  11,  1763,  the  Lords  of  Trade  wrote 
to  the  governor  of  Rhode  Island  that  it  was  his 
Majesty’s  command  that  he  “ make  the  suppression 
of  the  clandestine  trade  with  foreign  nations  and 
the  improvement  of  the  revenue  the  constant  and 
immediate  object  of  his  care.”  On  October  22, 
Admiral  Colvill  wrote  from  Halifax  that  he  had 
thought  it  necessary,  “ for  the  encouragement  of 
fair  trade  by  the  prevention  of  smuggling,  to  sta- 
tion his  Majesty’s  ship  the  Squirrel  for  the  ap- 
proaching winter  at  Newport.”  Thus  confronted, 
it  behooved  the  colony  to  take  action  promptly  if 
it  meant  to  do  so  at  all,  and  in  January,  1764, 
Governor  Stephen  Hopkins,  responding  to  a reso- 
lution by  the  General  Assembly,  forwarded  to 
Joseph  Sherwood,  agent  for  Rhode  Island  in  Lon- 
don since  1759  (the  year  of  the  death  of  faithful 
Richard  Partridge),  a letter  stoutly  protesting 
against  the  renewal  of  the  Sugar  Act  on  the  ground 
taken  in  1733  by  Partridge  himself. 

Hardly  had  this  letter  been  dispatched  when 
(March,  1764)  George  Grenville  introduced  in 
Parliament  a resolution  looking  toward  a stamp 
tax  to  be  levied  in  America.  News  was  officially 
furnished  to  Rhode  Island  in  August,  and  in  Octo- 
ber the  General  Assembly  appointed  a committee 
of  seven,  headed  by  the  governor,  to  prepare  an 
address  to  the  king.  In  November  the  committee 


PORTENTS  OF  REVOLUTION 


201 


reported  an  address  and  also  a paper  composed  by- 
Stephen  Hopkins,  entitled  “ The  Rights  of  Colonies 
Examined.”  Both  papers  were  ordered  to  be  sent 
to  Sherwood  : the  first  for  presentation  to  his  Ma- 
jesty, and  the  second  to  be  put  in  print  and  so 
made  of  use  to  all  the  colonies. 

The  pamphlet  by  Hopkins  proved  to  be  by  no 
means  an  ordinary  performance.  It  was  philosophi- 
cal but  not  too  much  so ; it  was  scholarly ; it  was 
strong ; it  was  dignified.  In  a word,  it  was  quite 
the  utterance  which  a man  ambitious  of  the  best  in 
letters  and  bred  in  the  traditions  of  Berkeley  might 
be  expected  to  put  forth.  Its  main  point  — one 
suggested  by  the  impending  Stamp  Act  — was  that 
the  direct  taxation  of  an  unconsenting  people  was 
tyrannous  and  un-English,  and  hence  unconstitu- 
tional. For  the  point  there  was,  in  a sense,  old 
Rhode  Island  authority.  It  will  not  have  been  for- 
gotten that  in  1733  Richard  Partridge  had  written 
to  Governor  William  Wanton:  “The  levying  a 
Subsidy  upon  a Free  People  without  their  know- 
ledge agst:  their  consent,  who  have  the  libertys 
and  Immunitys  granted  them  of  Natural  Born  Sub- 
jects— a people  who  have  no  Representatives  in  the 
State  here  — . . . is  as  I apprehend  a violation  of 
the  Right  of  the  Subject.”  This,  too,  was  the  point 
on  which  stress  had  been  laid  in  pamphlets  which 
J ames  Otis  and  Oxenbridge  Thacher  had  published 
in  Massachusetts  just  prior  to  the  preparation  of 
the  Hopkins  pamphlet. 


202 


RHODE  ISLAND 


The  point,  however,  was  one  not  free  from  diffi- 
culty. It  was  both  strong  and  weak  : historically 
strong ; dialectically  weak.  If  it  might  be  urged 
(as  by  Hopkins)  that  through  time  and  usage  (the 
basic  elements  of  the  English  Constitution)  self-di- 
rect taxation  had  become  the  only  constitutional  di- 
rect taxation  for  the  colonies,  it  might  also  be  urged 
that  in  the  eye  of  English  statute  law  (which  took 
no  note  of  time)  the  colonies  were  still,  as  they 
had  been  at  the  start,  mere  corporations  within  the 
realm.  Nor  did  the  weak  phase  escape  remark  in 
Rhode  Island.  At  Newport  a pseudonymic  pen 
(that  of  “ a Gentleman  at  Halifax,”  disclosed  after- 
wards as  Martin  Howard,  Jr.)  took  up  the  cud- 
gels for  the  British  government  in  an  argument 
not  only  urbane  but  well-nigh  unanswerable. 

Meanwhile  neither  Rhode  Island’s  protest  against 
the  Sugar  Act,  nor  its  petition  against  a Stamp 
Act,  was  producing  any  perceptible  effect  on  the 
crown,  and  between  1764  and  1766  events  in  the 
colony  moved  toward  revolution  with  rapid  strides. 
At  Newport  trouble  with  the  revenue  vessels  and 
(after  the  passage  in  March,  1765,  of  the  stamp 
law)  with  the  stamp  officials  was  incessant.  The 
schooner  St.  John,  tender  to  the  Squirrel,  was 
fired  on  by  a mob  at  Fort  George.  A boat  belong- 
ing to  the  Maidstone  — a vessel  engaged  in  impress- 
ing seamen  — was  seized  by  a mob  and  burned  on 
the  parade.  Augustus  Johnson,  attorney-general 
and  stamp  distributer  for  the  colony,  and  his  friends 


PORTENTS  OF  REVOLUTION 


203 


and  abetters,  Dr.  Thomas  Moffat  and  Martin 
Howard,  Jr.,  were  hung  in  effigy  and  their  houses 
pillaged.  These  violent  manifestations  of  feeling 
were  interspersed  with  others  less  discreditable. 
On  August  7,  1765,  the  Providence  town  meeting 
under  the  lead  of  Stephen  Hopkins  passed  the 
famous  resolutions  which  in  May  Patrick  Henry 
had  introduced  in  the  Virginia  House  of  Burgesses  ; 
not  excepting  resolution  five  from  which  the  Vir- 
ginia house  had  shrunk.  Nor  was  this  the  end.  In 
September  of  the  same  year  the  Rhode  Island 
Assembly  made  the  Virginia-Providence  resolutions 
its  own  ; stipulating  to  save  harmless  its  officers 
for  not  regarding  the  Stamp  Act.  Under  the  stip- 
ulation Samuel  Ward,  who  had  been  chosen  gov- 
ernor in  May,  alone  of  the  entire  corps  of  British 
American  governors  refused  to  be  sworn  to  exe- 
cute the  measure. 

In  October  there  was  held  in  New  York  the 
Stamp  Act  Congress,  but  Rhode  Island’s  partici- 
pation though  cordial  was  not  conspicuous,  and 
in  1766  the  obnoxious  stamp  law  was  repealed. 
The  colony  on  Narragansett  Bay  went  wild  with 
joy  over  the  repeal,  but  two  things  remained  still 
a vexation.  The  crown  refused  to  pay  to  Rhode 
Island  the  war  allotment  for  the  year  1756  until 
such  time  as  the  colony  should  reimburse  Johnson, 
Moffat,  and  Howard  for  their  losses  at  Newport, 
and  the  Sugar  Act  was  being  stringently  enforced. 

The  sugar  duty  had  been  renewed  at  three  pence 


204 


RHODE  ISLAND 


a gallon.  It  now  was  reduced  to  one  penny ; but  the 
collection  of  the  one  penny  involved  interposition, 
and  it  was  interposition  that  was  the  real  affront. 
Matters  waxed  steadily  more  serious  throughout 
the  period  1767-1770,  a period  signalized  by  the 
tea  tax ; by  non-importation  agreements ; by  the 
quartering  of  troops  in  Boston ; by  the  “ Farmer’s 
Letters  ” of  Dickinson ; by  the  ordering  to  Eng- 
land for  trial,  on  the  charge  of  treason,  of  Samuel 
Adams  and  John  Hancock ; by  eloquent  champion- 
ship of  America  in  Parliament  by  Burke  and 
Barre  ; by  the  scuttling  at  Newport  of  the  revenue 
sloop  Liberty ; and,  finally,  by  the  “ Boston  Massa- 
cre.” Between  1770  and  1772  there  was  again 
quiet,  but  in  the  latter  year  this  quiet,  both  for 
Rhode  Island  and  America  at  large,  was  dispelled 
by  a grave  occurrence  in  Narragansett  Bay. 

One  day  in  March,  1772,  his  Majesty’s  schooner 
Gaspee  of  eight  guns,  with  her  tender  the  Beaver, 
took  station  in  the  bay  and  set  about  the  enforce- 
ment of  the  Sugar  Act  by  stopping  and  searching 
all  vessels,  little  and  big,  which  came  within  reach. 
By  this  course  there  was  caused  what  is  known  in 
American  history  as  the  affair  of  the  Gaspee  — 
the  first  bold,  overt,  organized  stroke  of  the  Revo- 
lution. The  Gaspee  affair,  furthermore,  is  of  inter- 
est by  reason  of  the  connection  with  it  of  Joseph 
Wanton,  governor  of  Rhode  Island  since  1769  and 
the  last  of  a distinguished  line  to  fill  that  position. 


PORTENTS  OF  REVOLUTION 


205 


The  commander  of  the  Gaspee  was  Lieutenant 
William  Dudingston,  and  Dudingston’s  commander 
was  Admiral  John  Montagu,  stationed  at  Boston. 
By  the  last  of  March  the  lieutenant’s  searches, 
which  under  Montagu’s  instructions  were  conducted 
upon  the  assumption  that  the  Rhode  Islanders  were 
“a  set  of  lawless  piratical  people,”  had  become 
vexatious  in  the  extreme,  and  Governor  Wanton 
deemed  it  imperative  to  demand  sight  of  his  com- 
mission. The  lieutenant  did  not  produce  it  but 
sent  Wanton’s  letter  to  Admiral  Montagu.  This 
seaman,  to  whom,  as  may  be  inferred,  the  ameni- 
ties of  intercourse  were  somewhat  foreign,  at  once 
addressed  the  governor,  threatening  to  “ hang  as 
pirates  ” any  Newporters  caught  attempting  to 
“ rescue  any  vessel  from  the  King’s  schooner,”  and 
denying  the  governor’s  right  to  inspect  Duding- 
ston’s papers.  Language  of  this  kind  awoke  the 
Wanton  spirit.  The  admiral  was  reminded  with 
merited  severity  that  the  governor  of  Rhode  Island 
did  not  “ receive  instructions  from  the  King’s  admi- 
ral stationed  in  America.” 

Wanton’s  rebuke  to  Montagu  was  administered 
on  May  8.  On  June  9,  a sloop  called  the  Han- 
nah, on  her  way  from  Newport  to  Providence, 
was  chased  determinedly  by  the  Gaspee  until  the 
latter  ran  aground  on  Namquit  (now  Gaspee)  Point, 
near  Pawtuxet.  The  Hannah  on  arriving  at  Prov- 
idence reported  the  predicament  of  the  schooner, 
and  J ohn  Brown  — a leading  merchant  (albeit  one 


206 


RHODE  ISLAND 


not  so  scrupulous  as  his  brother  Moses)  — resolved 
to  seize  the  opportunity  thus  unexpectedly  afforded. 
Brown  summoned  to  his  aid  Abraham  Whipple  (a 
seasoned  privateersman  of  the  French  War)  and 
John  B.  Hopkins  (a  nephew  of  Stephen  Hopkins), 
and  it  was  planned  to  surprise  the  Gaspee  toward 
midnight.  A number  of  long-boats  were  collected, 
the  oars  carefully  muffled,  and  soon  after  ten 
o’clock  there  was  embarked  a party  of  about  fifty 
men.  The  small  flotilla  pulled  steadily  down  the 
bay  until  the  Gaspee  was  seen,  when,  with  a view 
to  avoiding  her  guns,  the  boats  were  so  disposed  as 
to  approach  the  schooner  on  the  bows.  The  hail 
of  the  single  man  on  watch  was  answered  with  an 
oath,  the  crews  bent  to  their  oars,  and  in  a few  sec- 
onds the  boats  were  alongside. 

By  this  time  Dudingston  himself  was  on  deck 
and  had  called  all  hands.  Some  pistols  were  fired 
at  the  boats,  and  the  lieutenant  was  in  the  act  of 
cutting  with  his  hanger  at  one  of  the  attacking 
party  clambering  into  the  starboard  forechains, 
when  he  fell  severely  wounded  by  a musket-shot  in 
the  groin.  All  forthwith  was  over,  and  the  Gas- 
pee’s  crew  having  been  set  on  shore,  the  vessel  was 
burned  to  the  water’s  edge. 

Great  was  the  excitement  throughout  Rhode 
Island  and  America,  and  in  crown  circles  in  Eng- 
land, on  the  spread  of  the  news  of  the  destruction 
of  the  Gaspee.  Governor  Wanton  proclaimed  a 
reward  of  XI 00  for  the  discovery  of  the  perpetra- 


PORTENTS  OF  REVOLUTION 


207 


tors  of  the  deed.  Edward  Thurlow,  his  Majesty’s 
attorney-general,  pronounced  the  affair  of  “ five 
times  the  magnitude  of  the  Stamp  Act.”  The 
Secretary  for  the  Colonies,  Lord  Dartmouth,  pro- 
claimed in  the  name  of  the  crown  a reward  of  £500 
for  each  common  perpetrator,  and  of  £1000  for 
each  captain  or  leader.  The  rewards,  together  with 
a full  pardon,  were  to  be  vouchsafed  to  any  mem- 
ber of  the  perpetrating  party  who  would  betray  the 
rest.  Had  the  party  consisted  of  hirelings  or  des- 
perate characters,  the  unstinted  offers  no  doubt 
would  have  brought  betrayal.  But  of  such  the 
party  did  not  consist.  It  was  made  up  of  substan- 
tial men,  well-known  citizens  of  Providence  and 
loyal  subjects  of  the  king ; of  men  who  in  making 
the  attack  wore  their  ruffled  shirts  and  their  hair 
neatly  tied  behind  as  usual,  and  who  reposed  per- 
fect confidence  in  each  other.  From  only  one  quar- 
ter did  danger  impend.  A negro,  Aaron  Briggs, 
pretended  to  have  been  with  the  party,  and  he, 
under  duress  from  one  of  the  king’s  officers,  made 
a so-called  confession  implicating  John  Brown. 
His  general  veracity,  however,  proved  to  be  abun- 
dantly capable  of  impeachment. 

For  the  purpose  of  eliciting  actionable  testimony, 
the  king,  in  September,  1772,  appointed  a royal 
commission:  Joseph  Wanton,  governor  of  Rhode 
Island  ; Daniel  Horsmanden,  chief  justice  of  New 
York;  Frederick  Smythe,  chief  justice  of  New 
Jersey ; Peter  Oliver,  chief  justice  of  Massachu- 


208 


RHODE  ISLAND 


setts  ; and  Eobert  Auchmuty,  vice-admiralty  judge 
of  Boston.  The  appointment  of  this  commission 
created  a stir.  It  was  learned  through  the  publi- 
cation of  a private  letter  from  the  Earl  of  Dart- 
mouth to  Governor  Wanton  that  it  was  intended 
to  protect  the  sittings  of  the  commissioners  by 
troops  from  Boston  and  to  transport  to  England 
for  trial  for  high  treason  any  persons  arrested. 

The  moment  these  intentions  became  known  all 
chance  of  discovering  the  Gaspee  culprits  was  at 
an  end.  The  commission  began  its  sessions  early 
in  January,  1773,  and  at  about  the  same  time  the 
General  Assembly  convened  at  East  Greenwich. 
Stephen  Hopkins  (now  chief  justice  of  the  Supe- 
rior Court)  made  before  the  Assembly  the  solemn 
declaration  that  for  the  purpose  of  transportation 
for  trial  he  would  neither  apprehend  by  his  own 
order,  nor  suffer  apprehension  to  be  made  by  any 
executive  officer  of  the  colony.  It  was  with  these 
words  in  their  ears  that  the  commissioners  bent  to 
their  task.  They  gathered  what  evidence  they  could 
(which  was  little),  submitted  it  to  the  Supreme 
Court  for  such  action  as  might  be  deemed  warranted, 
and  in  June  adjourned.  On  June  10  Dr.  Ezra 
Stiles,  who  had  watched  closely  every  move  by  the 
commission,  thus  wrote  in  his  diary  : “ I appre- 
hend something  severe  would  have  been  done  by 
the  present  Commissioners  had  not  the  Commission 
given  an  extensive  Alarm  to  all  the  Assemblies 
upon  the  Continent,  and  occasioned  the  Resolutions 


PORTENTS  OF  REVOLUTION 


209 


and  Measures  proposed  by  the  Virginia  Assembly 
in  March  last,  which  are  now  circulating,  and  will 
undoubtedly  become  universal,  viz,  forming  Assem- 
bly Committees  of  Correspondence  and  enjoyning 
a particular  Inquiry  into  the  Powers  of  this  Court 
of  Commissioners  at  Rh.  Island.  These  Assembly 
Committees  will  finally  terminate  in  a General 
Congress.  ...  A Congress  had  been  sure  if  one 
person  had  been  seized  & carried  from  Rh.  Island.” 

But  in  addition  to  many  patriots,  Rhode  Island 
possessed  among  its  people  many  loyalists. 

The  publication  by  Martin  Howard,  Jr.,  of 
Newport,  of  a reply  to  Hopkins’s  “ Rights  of 
Colonies  Examined  ” made  it  plain  that  at  New- 
port, at  least,  there  were  loyalists.  Indeed,  Newport 
was  the  seat  of  the  loyalists.  Loyalism  meant 
simply  conservatism,  and  conservative  Newport 
had  always  been.  As  founded  by  Coddington  it 
was  a protest  against  the  radicalism  of  Portsmouth 
under  Anne  Hutchinson  and  Samuel  Gorton. 
Then  in  subsequent  years  Newport  had  amassed 
wealth  and  acquired  social  prestige,  and  both  wealth 
and  prestige  are  conservative  forces.  Newport 
loyalism,  too,  was  fostered  in  another  way.  The 
town  was  filled  with  Quakers  ; it  contained  a good 
many  Baptists  and  not  a few  Episcopalians.  The 
Episcopalians  were  natural  loyalists,  and  the  Quak- 
ers contributed  to  loyalism  by  their  opposition  to 
war.  As  for  the  Baptists,  they  were  not  opposed 
to  war  (nearly  the  whole  of  Cromwell’s  army  had 


210 


RHODE  ISLAND 


been  Baptists),  but  as  against  the  Puritans  of 
Massachusetts  they  had  received  succor  at  the 
hands  of  the  English  government.  It  is  not  to  be 
accounted  strange  if,  in  some  instances,  they  were 
imbued  with  a patriotism  that  was  but  lukewarm. 

Throughout  1774  events  fairly  crowded  to  an 
issue.  In  May  Providence  (true  to  its  reputation 
for  initiative)  passed  resolutions  proposing  a Con- 
tinental Congress  and  instructing  its  deputies  in 
the  General  Assembly  to  strive  for  a “ Union  ” of 
the  colonies.  In  June  the  Assembly  adopted  the 
Providence,  and  by  this  time  also  the  Virginia  and 
Massachusetts,  idea,  and  named  Stephen  Hopkins 
and  Samuel  Ward  as  congressional  delegates.  In 
September  Congress  met  in  Philadelphia,  passed  a 
Declaration  of  Rights  and  various  addresses,  and 
signed  an  “ Association  ” not  to  import  any  British 
manufactures  or  any  East  India  Company  tea 
after  December  1,  unless  prior  to  that  date  Amer- 
ican grievances  should  have  been  redressed.  In 
October,  November,  and  December  the  Rhode 
Island  militia  was  reorganized  and  the  British 
frigate  Rose  took  in  Newport  Harbor  the  place 
left  vacant  by  the  Gaspee.  Meanwhile,  despite  the 
allowance  of  a certain  amount  by  the  General  As- 
sembly upon  the  claims  of  Augustus  Johnson, 
Martin  Howard,  Jr.,  and  Dr.  Thomas  Moffat,  the 
money  due  the  colony  from  Great  Britain  was 
firmly  withheld. 


PORTENTS  OF  REVOLUTION 


211 


The  year  1775  opened  with  the  battle  of  Lex- 
ington. Rhode  Island  was  profoundly  stirred  by 
the  news,  and  several  hundred  men  set  forth  from 
Providence  for  the  scene  of  action,  but  were  turned 
back  by  a message  reporting  the  retreat  of  the 
British.  At  Newport  there  was  not  only  excite- 
ment but  terror  and  confusion.  On  April  24 
Samuel  Ward  wrote  from  Westerly,  counseling 
the  “ Messrs.  Malbone  ...  to  get  their  vessels  to 
sea  or  out  of  New  England  with  all  speed,”  and 
on  the  26th  the  Stiles  diary  records:  “Two  Ves- 
sels full  of  Passengers  sailed  this  morng  for  Phila- 
delphia. The  Town  in  great  panic.” 

The  same  day  a couple  of  flour  ships  bound  for 
Providence  were  stopped  by  the  commander  of  the 
Rose,  Captain  James  Wallace;  and  John  Brown, 
who  owned  the  cargo,  was  detained  and  sent  to 
General  Gage  at  Boston  to  answer  for  his  sus- 
pected connection  with  the  Gaspee  affair.  It  was 
no  slight  peril  in  which  Brown  was  placed.  His 
guilt  was  real,  and  what  Gage  might  decide  to  do 
was  doubly  problematical  since  the  day  of  Lexing- 
ton. But  at  this  juncture  John  Brown’s  brother 
Moses  (from  whom  the  fact  of  John’s  culpability 
had  been  kept  a fast  secret)  provided  himself  with 
letters  to  Gage,  Admiral  Graves,  and  Chief  Justice 
Oliver,  and  set  out  for  Boston.  After  some  parley- 
ing with  sentinels  he  wras  allowed  to  pass  the 
lines.  He  saw  Oliver,  was  presented  to  Graves, 
and  in  virtue  of  the  fact  that  the  late  royal  com- 


212 


RHODE  ISLAND 


mission  had  been  unable  to  elicit  anything  action- 
able against  the  suspect,  was  accorded  the  latter’s 
release.  The  brothers  returned  to  Providence 
mounted  on  one  horse,  John  in  the  saddle  and 
Moses  en  croupe,  and  were  welcomed  with  joyful 
demonstrations.  The  General  Assembly,  mean- 
while, had  passed  an  act  creating  an  army  of  ob- 
servation of  fifteen  hundred  men,  and  had  sus- 
pended from  office  Governor  Joseph  Wanton  for 
protesting  against  their  course. 

On  May  10  Congress  met  (the  second  Con- 
tinental Congress)  and  in  it  Rhode  Island  quietly 
but  resolutely  took  an  important  part.  Hopkins 
and  Ward  once  more  were  the  delegates,  and 
Samuel  and  John  Adams  were  delegates  from 
Massachusetts.  In  Stephen  Hopkins  Rhode  Is- 
land possessed  a man  of  the  John  Adams  foresight 
and  courage.  In  1757  Hopkins  had  asked,  “ What 
have  the  King  and  Parliament  to  do  with  making 
a law  or  laws  to  govern  us  by  any  more  than  the 
Mohawks?”  In  1772  Adams  had  said,  “There 
is  no  more  justice  left  in  Britain  than  there  is  in 
hell.”  During  the  first  Congress  Hopkins  had  af- 
firmed to  a circle  of  delegates,  “ The  gun  and 
bayonet  alone  will  finish  the  contest  in  which  we 
are  engaged.”  During  the  second  Congress  Adams 
was  writing,  “ Powder  and  artillery  are  the  most 
efficacious,  sure,  and  infallible  conciliatory  mea- 
sures we  can  adopt.”  Nor  were  these  words  words 
merely.  On  June  15  John  Adams  nominated 


PORTENTS  OF  REVOLUTION 


213 


George  Washington  commander-in-chief  of  the 
Continental  forces.  Already  in  May  Rhode  Island 
had  installed  as  commander  of  its  forces  Nathanael 
Greene. 

In  August  Rhode  Island  was  ready  for  a further 
step.  The  General  Assembly  instructed  its  dele- 
gates in  Congress  to  “ use  their  whole  influence  ” 
to  secure  the  “ building  and  equipping  at  the  con- 
tinental expense  of  an  American  fleet.”  Supremely 
fitting  was  it  that  the  proposition  for  the  founding 
of  a United  States  Navy  should  emanate  from 
Rhode  Island.  As  declared  by  the  Assembly  to 
King  William  in  1693,  the  colony  was  “ a frontier 
[to  the  rest  of  New  England]  by  sea  ; ” and  from 
that  time  forth,  through  the  wars  of  Queen  Anne 
and  the  Georges,  under  the  leadership  of  the  W an- 
tons,  of  Daniel  Fones,  of  John  Dennis,  and  of 
Abraham  Whipple,  Rhode  Island  had  been  for 
Britain  a nursery  of  seamen  and  of  daring. 

The  naval  proposition  (after  some  persiflage  on 
the  part  of  Congress  at  the  audacity  of  it)  was 
seriously  considered  in  October,  1775.  By  Feb- 
ruary, 1776,  as  a result  of  the  labors  of  a “Ma- 
rine Committee,”  of  which  Stephen  Hopkins  was 
a member,  there  were  ready  two  ships,  the  Alfred 
and  Columbus,  the  first  of  twenty-four  and  the 
second  of  thirty-six  guns  ; two  brigs,  the  Andrea 
Doria  and  Cabot,  each  of  fourteen  guns ; and  four 
sloops,  the  Providence,  Fly,  Hornet,  and  Wasp. 
Of  the  fleet  as  a whole  Esek  Hopkins  (a  mariner 


214 


RHODE  ISLAND 


of  experience)  was  made  commander-in-chief.  Of 
the  several  vessels,  Abraham  Whipple  was  made 
captain  of  the  Columbus,  and  John  B.  Hopkins 
captain  of  the  Cabot.  These  officers  were  Rhode 
Islanders  all,  and  all,  be  it  confessed,  related  either 
by  blood  or  marriage  to  Stephen  Hopkins  of  the 
Marine  Committee.  In  March  Commander-in- 
chief  Hopkins  was  instructed  to  seek  the  enemy 
along  the  coast.  He  went,  however,  on  a cruise  to 
the  Bahamas  to  capture  such  stores  of  needed 
powder  and  guns  as  might  there  be  found.  The 
expedition  set  sail  from  the  Delaware  capes  on 
February  17,  1776,  with  John  Paul  Jones  as  first 
lieutenant  of  the  Alfred.  It  made  in  due  time  a 
descent  upon  the  island  of  New  Providence,  and, 
returning  on  April  8,  brought  some  prisoners,  a 
little  powder,  and  about  one  hundred  cannon. 

Ere  this  Rhode  Island  had  discarded  nearly 
every  badge  of  colonialism.  It  had  issued  bills  of 
credit  for  local  defense ; had  established  a local 
postal  system ; had  erected  fortifications  ; had  con- 
fiscated the  estates  of  wealthy  loyalists  of  Newport 
and  Narragansett ; had  even  at  length  deposed 
Governor  Wanton  and  chosen  Nicholas  Cooke  — 
a Providence  man  — governor  in  his  stead.  Only 
one  thing  remained  to  be  done  to  make  explicit 
the  independence  which  by  these  acts  had  been 
implied,  and  that  was  to  pass  a declaration  for- 
mally absolving  the  people  of  Rhode  Island  from 
their  allegiance  to  the  British  crown.  Such  a de- 


PORTENTS  OF  REVOLUTION 


215 


claration  was  passed  on  May  4,  just  two  months 
before  the  signing  of  the  great  Declaration  at 
Philadelphia. 

Little  by  little,  through  acts  of  governmental 
interposition  — several  of  them  justifiable,  some 
of  them  necessary,  one  of  them  (the  Sugar  Act) 
conspicuously  a mistake  — it  had  been  brought  to 
pass  that  the  British  American  colony  originally 
perhaps  the  most  loyal  of  all  to  the  crown  was 
hopelessly  alienated  and  estranged. 


CHAPTER  XI 


RHODE  ISLAND  THE  THEATRE  OF  WAR 

Esek  Hopkins  — The  British  at  Newport  — Seizure  of  General 
Prescott  — Sullivan  and  D’Estaing'  — The  Pigot  Galley  — Des- 
titution— Newport  and  the  French. 

When  last  we  saw  the  American  squadron  under 
Commander-in-chief  Hopkins  it  had  just  returned 
from  the  Bahamas  with  captured  stores  and  ord- 
nance. But  the  return  voyage  was  not  quite  the 
triumphal  progress  that  it  might  have  been. 

On  the  morning  of  the  6th  of  April,  about  one 
o’clock,  there  was  dimly  descried  off  Point  Judith 
a ship  which  proved  to  be  his  Majesty’s  ship  Glas- 
gow, of  twenty  guns  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  men, 
commanded  by  Captain  Tyringham  Howe.  This 
vessel,  since  the  autumn  of  1775,  had  been  serving 
as  consort  to  the  Rose  off  Newport.  By  half -past 
two  the  Cabot  had  got  near  enough  to  hail,  and  an 
interchange  of  amenities  in  the  form  of  broadsides 
took  place.  The  result  was  that  the  Cabot  was 
badly  damaged  and  cut  up.  She  lost  four  men 
killed  and  eight  wounded;  among  the  latter,  John 
B.  Hopkins  her  captain.  Next,  the  Alfred  came 
into  action.  She  lost  her  wheel-block  and  ropes, 
was  several  times  raked,  suffered  a shot  through 


Map  Showing 

Barton  Expedition 

July,  1777  

Sullivan  Expedition 

August,  1778  

Talbot  Expedition 
October,  1778  


Howland’s . 
Fern  | 


BATTLE 
A UG  .29 


t=>  isk 
Quaker  HU  l 


BRITISH  SHIPS 
JULY,  1 777  * 


PROPOSED 
FRENCH  AOVANCE, 
AUG. 10 


/ ^PROPOSED  / 
OVERING -AMERICAN  ADVANCI 
v HOUSE  / AUG. 10  I 


CONANICUT 


PIGOT  GALLE' 


WH.fTEHALI 


^Sachuest  Pt, 


Scale  of  Miles 


THE  THEATRE  OF  WAR 


217 


the  mainmast,  received  several  shot  under  water, 
and  lost  four  killed  and  seven  wounded.  With  the 
Columbus  it  fared  better  ; on  board  her  there  was 
a loss  of  only  one  wounded.  The  Glasgow,  mean- 
while, though  considerably  cut  up  aloft,  had  not 
been  materially  damaged.  She  had  lost  but  one 
killed  and  three  wounded,  and  had  made  good  a 
retreat  into  Newport  Harbor. 

In  this  combat,  in  which  there  were  arrayed  on 
the  side  of  the  British  not  more  than  twenty  guns 
and  one  hundred  and  fifty  men,  and  on  the  side  of 
the  Americans  at  least  one  hundred  guns  and  seven 
hundred  men,  the  honors  were  decidedly  with  the 
British.  The  Americans  showed  pluck,  especially 
the  crew  of  the  Cabot  under  J ohn  B.  Hopkins,  but 
of  the  fleet  as  a whole  there  was  no  adequate  dis- 
position or  management. 

The  ill  success  which  attended  the  first  encounter 
with  the  enemy  on  the  part  of  Esek  Hopkins  pur- 
sued that  officer  ever  afterwards.  In  August  he 
was  ordered  on  a cruise  off  the  coast  of  Newfound- 
land, but  could  not  enlist  seamen  sufficient  for  the 
undertaking ; and  in  October,  for  the  same  cause, 
he  was  unable  to  carry  out  an  order  to  proceed  to 
Cape  Fear,  North  Carolina.  Finally,  in  December, 
a large  British  fleet  appeared  in  Narragansett  Bay, 
and  Hopkins  found  himself  effectually  blockaded 
(“  bottled  ” the  late  General  Ulysses  S.  Grant 
would  have  termed  it),  and  his  usefulness  as  a 
fleet  commander  at  an  end.  Hopkins’s  own  ac- 


218 


RHODE  ISLAND 


count  of  his  predicament  at  this  time  is  little  short 
of  pitiful.  He  wrote : “We  are  now  blocked  up 
by  the  enemy’s  fleet,  the  officers  and  men  are 
uneasy,  however  I shall  not  desert  the  cause  but  I 
wish  with  all  my  heart  the  Hon.  Marine  Board  could 
and  would  get  a man  in  my  room  that  would  do 
the  Country  more  good  than  it  is  in  my  power  to 
do.” 

Hardly  surprising  is  it  that  in  August,  1776, 
Congress  should  have  censured  Hopkins ; that  in 
March,  1777,  it  should  have  suspended  him  from 
his  command ; and  that  in  January,  1778,  it  should 
have  dismissed  him  from  the  naval  service  alto- 
gether. He  was  described,  in  1776,  by  Colonel 
(afterwards  General)  Henry  Knox,  as  “ an  anti- 
quated figure”  — a sort  of  belated  Admiral  Van 
Tromp.  The  description  was  meant  to  apply  merely 
to  his  dress  and  bearing,  but  it  really  went  deeper. 
The  “ commander-in-chief  ” (the  American  navy 
has  had  but  one)  was  a well-meaning  man,  unre- 
sourceful and  slack ; one  of  those  upon  whom  mis- 
fortunes seem  to  descend  by  sheer  force  of  natural 
attraction. 

It  is  not  to  be  gainsaid  that  in  seeking  to  re-man 
his  ships,  after  his  return  from  New  Providence, 
Hopkins  met  with  genuine  perplexity.  He  was 
forced  to  compete  for  seamen  with  the  owners  and 
captains  of  privateering  craft,  and  at  a distinct 
disadvantage.  The  situation  was  as  follows : In 
December,  1775,  Congress,  while  hastily  fitting  out 


THE  THEATRE  OF  WAR 


219 


a squadron  for  Hopkins,  ordered  the  construction 
of  thirteen  vessels,  — five  of  thirty-two  guns,  five 
of  twenty-eight,  and  three  of  twenty-four.  Two  of 
the  vessels  — the  Providence  and  W arren  — were 
to  be  built  in  Rhode  Island.  The  work  was  placed 
in  the  hands  of  a committee  of  the  leading  men  of 
Providence : Nicholas  Cooke,  Nicholas  Brown, 
Joseph  Russell,  Joseph  Brown,  John  Brown,  Daniel 
Tillinghast,  John  Innes  Clarke,  Joseph  Nightin- 
gale, Jabez  Bowen,  and  Rufus  Hopkins.  But, 
though  the  ships  were  to  be  finished  by  April, 
1776,  and  though  the  committee  having  them  in 
charge  was  thoroughly  competent,  the  work  lagged. 
Why? 

In  March,  1776,  Congress  had  passed  an  act  au- 
thorizing the  issuing  of  letters  of  marque  against 
English  commerce.  Soon  afterwards  the  Rhode 
Island  General  Assembly  had  passed  an  act  pro- 
viding for  the  issuing  of  such  letters  within  its 
jurisdiction,  and  creating  an  Admiralty  Court  for 
the  condemnation  of  prizes.  The  old  Narragan- 
sett  viking  and  individualistic  spirit  of  the  French 
and  Spanish  wars  was  at  once  aroused.  Every- 
thing else  was  neglected,  and  privateering  be- 
came the  business  of  the  day.  Providence  had 
been  rebuking  the  unpatriotic  covetousness  of  New- 
port as  disclosed  in  a failure  to  observe  the  non- 
importation agreement.  Now  Providence  itself, 
even  to  its  distinguished  committee  of  Browns, 
Russells,  Clarkes,  and  Nightingales,  was  guilty  of  a 


220 


RHODE  ISLAND 


like  self-seeking.  In  fact,  to  suck  lengths  did  the 
committee  carry  its  disregard  of  national  interests, 
that  members  of  it  (John  Brown  in  particular) 
were  permitted  to  divert  to  their  own  use,  in  the 
construction  of  privateers,  labor  and  materials  de- 
signed for  the  government  work.  Of  this  fact 
Hopkins,  who,  weak  though  he  may  have  been,  was 
thoroughly  honest,  complained  bitterly  to  the  Ma- 
rine Board,  and  the  Providence  committee  in  high 
indignation  resigned  its  powers. 

Matters  did  not  improve.  The  privateers,  with 
their  roving  commissions  and  chances  for  lucrative 
gains,  took  all  the  seamen ; and  when  the  sorely 
beset  commander-in-chief  sought,  through  the  leg- 
islature, to  lay  an  embargo  on  enlistments  until  his 
own  ships  should  be  manned,  the  Browns,  Bussells, 
and  others  were  able  to  circumvent  him.  During 
a period  of  less  than  five  months  in  the  year  1776 
there  were  commissioned  from  Bhode  Island  six- 
ty-five privateers.  On  November  12,  1776,  Dr. 
Stiles  records  (probably  with  little  exaggeration  ; 
at  figures  and  calculations  the  doctor  was  un- 
wearied) : “ It  has  been  computed  that  this  W ar 
by  prizes  by  building  ships  of  War  & the  Navy 
has  already  within  a year  and  a half  brought  into 
Providence  near  Three  Hundred  Thousand  Ster- 
ling ; which  is  double  the  Property  of  the  whole 
Town  two  years  ago.” 

In  the  end  — that  is,  by  December,  1776  — an 
embargo  on  enlistments  by  merchantmen  and  pri- 


THE  THEATRE  OF  WAR 


221 


vateers  fitting  out  in  Narragansett  Bay  proved  to 
be  unavoidable,  and  an  act  to  that  effect  was  ac- 
cordingly placed  upon  the  Rhode  Island  statute 
book. 

The  departure  from  Boston,  in  June,  1776,  of 
the  British  force  under  General  Sir  William  Howe 
marked  the  close  of  the  preliminary  stage  of  the 
Revolution.  Down  to  this  time  the  attitude  of 
Great  Britain  toward  America  had  been  that  of  a 
mother  country  temporizing  with  rebellious  de- 
pendencies ; particularly  with  that  set  of  depend- 
encies (New  England)  where  the  spirit  of  rebellion 
was  strongest.  With  the  concentration  of  British 
fleets  and  armies  at  New  York  — a concentration 
which,  between  June  and  August,  took  place  under 
Admiral  Lord  Howe  and  General  Howe  — the  Brit- 
ish attitude  changed  to  that  of  a foreign  power 
seeking  to  cut  in  twain  (along  the  main  artery, 
the  Hudson  River)  a hostile  territory.  This  effort 
marked  the  crisis  of  the  Revolution.  For  Rhode 
Island  it  was  characterized  by  the  lodgment  upon 
its  soil  and  in  its  waters  of  a force  advantageously 
placed  either  for  cooperating  by  way  of  Long 
Island  Sound  with  the  British  force  at  New  York, 
or  for  penetrating  into  New  England  and  subduing 
that  section  after  the  task  of  separating  it  from 
the  middle  colonies  had  been  achieved. 

In  March,  1776,  Samuel  Ward  had  died  of 
small-pox  at  Philadelphia,  and  in  September  of  the 


222 


RHODE  ISLAND 


same  year  Stephen  Hopkins,  grown  quite  infirm, 
had  ceased  to  attend  the  sessions  of  the  Conti- 
nental Congress.  In  the  place  of  Ward,  and  as 
coadjutors  of  Hopkins,  there  now  were  appointed 
William  Ellery  ( fils')  and  Henry  Marchant.  Fear 
that  the  British  had  planned  a descent  upon  New- 
port began  seriously  to  be  felt  in  Rhode  Island  in 
November,  1776  ; and  on  December  2 news  was 
received  by  way  of  Watch  Hill  in  Westerly  that 
“ eleven  sail  of  square  rigged  vessels  [under  Sir 
Peter  Parker]  were  standing  in  between  Block 
Island  and  Montauk  Point.”  On  December  7, 
Parker’s  squadron  (comprising  seven  ships  of  the 
line  and  four  frigates),  together  with  a convoy  of 
seventy  transports  carrying  six  thousand  troops, 
anchored  off  Middletown. 

Precipitate  was  the  withdrawal  from  the  island 
of  Rhode  Island  of  the  single  battalion  by  which  it 
was  defended,  and  of  a considerable  part  of  the 
inhabitants.  The  General  Assembly  met,  and,  in 
pursuance  of  its  measures,  a convention  of  the  New 
England  States  was  held  at  Providence  on  Decem- 
ber 25.  By  this  body  (under  the  presidency  of 
Stephen  Hopkins)  it  was  resolved  to  muster  from 
New  England  six  thousand  men,  and  place  them 
under  the  direction  of  the  Continental  general  com- 
manding in  Rhode  Island.  At  about  the  same  time 
William  Ellery  wrote  from  his  place  in  Congress 
urging  an  attack  upon  the  British  at  Newport,  and 
stating  that  Washington  had  appointed  Generals 


THE  THEATRE  OF  WAR 


223 


Benedict  Arnold  and  Joseph  Spencer  to  take  com- 
mand in  New  England.  It  had  been  hoped  to  ob- 
tain for  the  post  either  Gates  or  Greene. 

Neither  Arnold  nor  Spencer  effected  anything 
toward  the  reduction  of  the  island.  The  British 
force  there  was  composed  of  five  British  regiments 
— four  of  infantry  and  one  of  artillery,  and  four 
Hessian  regiments  of  infantry,  one  of  which  was 
the  celebrated  Anspachers.  The  principal  officers 
were  General  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  Lieutenant  Gen- 
eral Hugh  Earl  Percy,  and  Brigadier-General 
Richard  Prescott.  Some  of  the  Newport  loyal- 
ists ere  this  time  had  suffered  rustication  to  the 
mainland,  but  that  a goodly  number  had  not  is  to 
be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  an  address  of  duty 
and  loyalty  to  George  III  was  now  signed  by  four 
hundred  and  fifty-four  freeholders  of  the  town. 
A like  address  was  signed  by  the  freeholders  and 
inhabitants  of  Jamestown,  and  by  the  Newport 
“ society  of  those  called  Quakers.” 

In  January,  1777,  Sir  Henry  Clinton  was  re- 
called to  England,  and  in  May  of  the  same  year 
he  was  followed  by  Earl  Percy.  The  command  at 
Rhode  Island,  therefore,  devolved  upon  General 
Prescott.  Not  long  afterwards  (in  July)  the  gen- 
eral was  made  the  victim  of  a piece  of  Yankee 
temerity  which  in  its  day  caused  a very  great  sen- 
sation indeed. 

Prescott’s  headquarters  at  Newport  were  in  the 


224 


RHODE  ISLAND 


Bannister  house  (still  standing),  but  the  general, 
as  something  of  a high  liver  and  roue , was  accus- 
tomed to  frequent  the  house  of  a loyalist  named 
Overing,  which  was  situated  on  the  west  side  of 
the  island  near  the  Redwood  villa.  At  this  time 
there  was  stationed  at  Tiverton,  as  major  of  an 
American  regiment  under  Colonel  Joseph  Stanton, 
a young  man,  the  son  of  a hatter  of  Warren,  Wil- 
liam Barton.  Barton  was  observing,  reflective,  full 
of  patriotism  and  daring,  and  when,  from  desert- 
ers, he  learned  of  the  practice  on  the  part  of  Gen- 
eral Prescott  of  paying  nocturnal  visits  to  the 
Overing  house,  the  news  stimulated  him  to  attempt 
the  execution  of  a plan  which  he  for  some  time 
had  been  maturing.  The  plan  was  to  seize  and 
make  prisoner  of  Prescott  by  way  of  retaliation  for 
the  seizure  of  General  Charles  Lee  effected  a few 
months  before  by  the  British. 

Barton  confided  his  views  to  Colonel  Stanton, 
and  by  him  was  authorized  to  carry  them  out.  From 
a multitude  eager  for  service  he  carefully  selected 
forty  men,  and  with  them,  on  July  5 and  6,  pro- 
ceeded in  five  whale-boats  to  Bristol.  The  men 
knew  nothing  as  to  the  errand  on  which  they  were 
embarked,  but  on  reaching  Bristol  they  were  or- 
dered to  row  out  to  Hog  Island,  where,  after  being 
sworn  to  secrecy,  the  errand  was  disclosed  to 
them.  Thunder-storms  were  now  almost  a daily 
occurrence,  and  it  was  not  until  the  evening  of 
July  7 that  the  party  got  to  Warwick  Neck, 


THE  THEATRE  OF  WAR 


225 


whence  the  expedition  was  to  start.  It  was  not 
until  the  night  of  the  9th  that  a start  actually  was 
made. 

The  boats  crept  stealthily  between  the  islands  of 
Patience  and  Prudence,  stole  as  stealthily  down 
the  west  shore  of  Prudence  past  Hope  (near  which 
riding  at  anchor  was  a part  of  the  British  fleet)  ; 
rounded  the  large  island  and  swept  rapidly  across 
to  their  destination.  The  men  landed,  marched  a 
mile  to  the  Overing  house  and  secured  the  single 
sentinel  on  guard.  They  then  forced  the  main  door, 
found  Prescott,  after  some  search,  sitting  bewil- 
dered in  a lower  chamber  on  the  side  of  his  bed, 
and,  permitting  him  to  don  merely  his  waistcoat, 
breeches,  and  slippers,  marched  him  off,  along  with 
his  aide,  Major  Barrington,  and  the  sentinel,  to  the 
boats.  “ You  have  made  a damned  bold  push  to- 
night,” remarked  Prescott  as  he  was  being  hurried 
along.  After  embarkation,  as  the  lights  of  the  fleet 
opened  to  view,  Ee  said : “ I did  not  think  it  pos- 
sible you  could  escape  the  vigilance  of  the  water 
guards.” 

Prescott  while  a prisoner  in  Rhode  Island  was 
quartered  at  Providence,  and  it  adds  not  a little  to 
the  picturesqueness  of  the  episode  of  his  capture 
that  on  his  arrival  he  (aged  coxcomb  that  he  was) 
sent  for  Providence’s  learned  barber,  John  How- 
land (of  whom  in  these  pages  more  anon),  to  dress 
his  hair ; and  that  shortly  there  came  from  New- 
port a flag  of  truce  bearing  the  general’s  entire 


226 


RHODE  ISLAND 


wardrobe  — his  purse,  his  hair  powder,  and  a plen- 
tiful supply  of  perfumery. 

To  Barton  and  his  men  there  was  voted  by  the 
Rhode  Island  General  Assembly  a sum  of  money, 
and  Barton  himself  was  rewarded  at  the  hands  of 
Congress  by  promotion  and  the  gift  of  a sword. 

In  consonance  with  the  British  plan  of  separating 
New  England  from  the  rest  of  the  American  Union, 
General  John  Burgoyne  had,  about  June  1,  1777, 
been  dispatched  from  Canada  with  an  army  of 
nearly  eight  thousand  men  on  a peregrination  south- 
ward by  way  of  Lake  Champlain  to  Albany.  There 
he  was  to  be  joined  by  Sir  William  Howe  from  New 
York.  Burgoyne’s  orders  did  not  permit  him  to 
digress  with  his  main  column,  but,  learning  that  the 
Americans  had  accumulated  stores  at  Bennington 
[Vermont],  he  deemed  it  expedient  to  detach  Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Baum  with  five  hundred  men  (in- 
creased afterwards  to  a thousand)  to  destroy  them. 
Baum  afterwards  was  to  advance  across  the  country 
to  Springfield,  Massachusetts,  a point  at  which  he 
was  assured  “ he  would  be  met  by  his  Majesty’s 
forces  from  Rhode  Island.”  The  fight  led  by  John 
Stark  at  Bennington  on  August  16  put  an  end  to 
the  advance  of  Baum,  and  the  surrender  to  Gates 
on  October  17  by  Burgoyne  himself  removed  all 
fear  of  an  immediate  severance  of  New  England 
from  the  West. 

So  far  as  Rhode  Island  itself  was  concerned,  the 


THE  THEATRE  OF  WAR 


227 


British  (in  the  expressive  words  of  the  General  As- 
sembly) still  were  lodged  in  its  very  “ bowels,”  and 
an  attack  on  Providence  was  apprehended.  Gen- 
eral Spencer  resigned  his  command  in  December, 
1777,  and  in  February,  1778,  Washington,  comply- 
ing with  an  order  of  Congress  to  name  a successor, 
promptly  named  General  John  Sullivan.  Greene, 
had  it  been  felt  by  Washington  that  he  then  could 
be  spared  from  New  York,  would  gladly  have  ac- 
cepted the  place,  and  indeed  had  been  urged  by 
Ellery  to  apply  for  it. 

It  was  in  April  that  Sullivan  took  charge  of  his 
new  department.  He  found  Sir  Robert  Pigot  in 
the  stead  of  Prescott,  and  in  May  Pigot  sent  an 
expedition  against  Warren  and  Bristol.  It  was  Sul- 
livan’s intention  to  attack  the  British  at  Newport 
as  soon  as  he  should  succeed  in  assembling  a suffi- 
cient force.  Celerity  was  imparted  to  his  movements 
by  news  received  in  July  that  a French  fleet  under 
Vice-Admiral  Comte  d’Estaing  was  upon  the  coast, 
and  that  Rhode  Island  would  be  the  fleet’s  destina- 
tion. 

Of  the  three  American  seaports  held  by  the  Brit- 
ish in  June,  1778,  — Philadelphia,  New  York,  and 
Newport,  — Philadelphia  had  now  been  evacuated. 
There  therefore  remained  only  New  York  and  New- 
port for  D’Estaing  to  choose  between  as  objectives, 
and,  as  New  York  proved  impracticable  of  ap- 
proach by  reason  of  the  draught  of  the  count’s  ves- 
sels, Newport  became  the  objective  from  necessity. 


228 


RHODE  ISLAND 


On  July  23  General  Greene,  with  fine  imagina- 
tive realization  of  the  historic  significance  of  what 
was  about  to  take  place,  wrote  to  Sullivan  from 
White  Plains  : “You  are  the  most  happy  man  in 
the  world.  . . . You  are  the  first  general  that  has 
ever  had  an  opportunity  of  cooperating  with  the 
French  forces  belonging  to  the  United  States.  The 
character  of  the  American  soldiers,  as  well  as  of 
their  officers,  will  be  formed  from  the  conduct  of 
the  troops  and  the  success  of  this  expedition.  . . . 
I wish  most  ardently  to  be  with  you.  ...  I charge 
you  to  he  victorious.”  In  the  same  letter  Greene 
let  his  correspondent  into  the  secret  that  Gates 
(more  exalted  than  ever  since  the  surrender  of  Bur- 
goyne)  had  himself  sought  from  Washington  the 
distinction  of  being  the  first  American  general  to 
cooperate  with  the  French. 

In  the  movement  against  Newport  Washington 
sent  to  Sullivan’s  aid  (under  the  Marquis  de 
Lafayette)  the  Continental  brigades,  some  two 
thousand  strong,  of  John  Glover  and  James  M. 
Yarnum.  He  gave  to  General  Greene  and  to 
Colonel  John  Laurens  (the  dashing  son  of  Henry 
Laurens,  President  of  Congress)  leave  to  partici- 
pate, and  by  August  4 men  and  officers  were 
in  the  vicinity  of  Providence.  As  for  the  French 
fleet,  — composed  of  twelve  ships  of  the  line  and 
four  frigates,  — it  had  arrived  off  Newport  on  July 
29. 

The  position  of  the  British  on  the  island  of 


THE  THEATRE  OF  WAR 


229 


Rhode  Island  (a  position  held  now  by  about  six 
thousand  men)  was  exceedingly  strong.  It  con- 
stituted a right  angle  of  which  Newport  formed 
the  apex,  the  sea  on  either  hand  the  sides,  and  of 
which  the  mouth  from  side  to  side  was  completely 
subtended  by  two  lines  of  works,  one  a mile  within 
the  other.  As  supplementary,  moveover,  to  the 
main  position,  there  was  Butts  Hill  at  the  north 
end  of  the  island.  It  commanded  both  Bristol  and 
Howland’s  ferries  and  had  been  carefully  fortified. 
So  strong  was  the  British  position  that  successfully 
to  attack  it  by  land  alone  was,  for  a force  not 
markedly  superior  to  the  garrison,  difficult  in  the 
extreme.  Any  column  of  moderate  strength  which 
should  leave  Butts  Hill  in  its  rear  would  be  likely 
to  have  its  communications  severed.  Any  such  col- 
umn that  should  pause  to  capture  the  hill  was 
likely  to  be  taken  in  rear  by  a relieving  force  from 
Newport. 

All  these  difficulties  at  once  vanished  if  the  at- 
tacking army  held  command  of  the  sea.  To  com- 
mand the  sea  was  to  command  the  British  rear, 
and  it  was  with  a view  to  the  advantages  of  a rear 
as  well  as  front  attack  that  D’Estaing  on  July  29 
(the  day  of  his  arrival)  urged  preparations  for  im- 
mediate action.  But  at  this  time  the  American 
general  had  with  him  practically  no  troops  at  all. 
Lafayette  did  not  arrive  with  the  Continental  bri- 
gades until  August  4,  and  the  militia  were  muster- 
ing slowly.  Had  an  attack  been  made  forthwith, 


230 


RHODE  ISLAND 


it  must  have  been  made  almost  wholly  by  the 
French  force  of  about  twenty-eight  hundred  ma- 
rines, the  inadequacy  of  which  was  obvious  for 
operations  in  rear  alone. 

In  any  event,  the  task  first  to  be  performed  was 
to  clear  the  bay  of  British  war- vessels.  It  proved 
not  difficult,  for  on  the  appearance  of  ships  from 
the  French  fleet  in  the  west,  middle,  and  east 
passages,  the  British  ships  (ten  in  number)  were 
burned  or  blown  up.  Next  it  was  decided  that  on 
August  10  — a date  satisfactory  to  Sullivan  — 
there  should  be  effected,  simultaneously,  a landing 
by  the  French  marines  on  the  west  side  of  the 
island  of  Rhode  Island,  and  by  the  Americans  on 
the  east  side.  The  garrison  on  Butts  Hill  would 
thus  be  cut  off,  and  the  way  to  Newport  would  be 
cleared.  On  August  8 D’Estaing  ran  the  batteries 
at  the  entrance  to  Newport  Harbor.  But  by  the 
morning  of  the  9th  the  Butts  Hill  garrison  had 
been  withdrawn ; so  Sullivan  at  once  transferred 
his  force  — now  by  the  influx  of  the  New  England 
militia  raised  to  ten  thousand  men  — to  the  island. 
The  same  day  D’Estaing  began  disembarking  his 
marines  on  Conanicut  to  move  to  Sullivan’s  sup- 
port. The  British  were  completely  trapped.  Their 
front  and  flanks  were  menaced  by  the  Americans 
and  the  marines  ; their  rear  was  at  the  mercy  of 
the  French  fleet. 

Before  the  disembarking  of  the  marines  was 
completed,  however,  Admiral  Lord  Howe,  with 


THE  THEATRE  OF  WAR 


231 


thirteen  ships  of  the  line  and  seven  frigates,  came 
in  sight  off  Point  Judith.  D’Estaing,  in  order 
himself  not  to  he  trapped  in  turn,  put  to  sea  to 
meet  Howe.  A storm  of  wind  and  rain  arose,  and 
though  upon  the  subsidence  of  the  elements  some 
bloody  ship  duels  took  place,  both  fleets  (on  August 
20)  were  forced  into  harbor : the  British  at  New 
York,  and  the  French  at  Newport. 

Sullivan,  meanwhile,  in  daily  expectation  of  the 
return  of  D’Estaing,  had  advanced  his  army  down 
the  east  side  of  the  island,  and  from  Hony man’s 
Hill  was  assailing  the  British  works  with  an  effec- 
tive cannonade.  He  was  thus  engaged  on  the  20th 
of  the  month  when  the  French  fleet,  battered  and 
in  part  dismantled,  reached  port.  What  was  his 
astonishment  to  be  told  that  D’Estaing,  instead  of 
returning  to  give  aid,  had  done  so  to  announce  his 
determination  to  go  to  Boston  to  refit.  Nothing 
remained  to  be  done  save  vehemently  to  protest  at 
the  course  of  the  French  admiral  (a  proceeding  in 
which  Lafayette  would  not  join,  and  which  it  after- 
wards took  no  little  diplomacy  to  smooth  over), 
and  either  to  storm  the  British  lines  or  retreat. 
To  storm,  with  the  militia  deserting  in  shoals  as 
now  was  the  case,  was  manifestly  out  of  the  ques- 
tion. Retreat  began  on  August  28,  and  the  so- 
called  battle  of  Rhode  Island,  which  occurred  on 
August  29  in  the  depression  between  Quaker  and 
Butts  hills,  was  simply  a spirited  repulse  by  the 
Americans  of  the  pursuing  British  ; a repulse  dur- 


232 


RHODE  ISLAND 


ing  the  infliction  of  which  Lafayette,  with  fiery 
zeal,  was  riding  a-gallop  to  Boston  to  make  a last 
vain  appeal  to  D’Estaing  for  the  return  of  the 
fleet ; and  at  the  end  of  which  the  American  army, 
under  cover  of  night  and  without  loss,  was  con- 
veyed over  Howland’s  Ferry  to  the  heights  of 
Tiverton.1 

The  departure  of  D’Estaing  — by  reason  of  the 
loss  of  the  command  of  the  sea  thereby  entailed, 
and  so  of  access  to  the  British  rear  — had  brought 
failure  to  the  Sullivan  expedition  : an  expedition 
the  first  fruit  of  the  Franco- American  alliance  ; 
one  the  success  of  which  would  have  rivaled  that 
of  the  capture  of  Burgoyne ; one,  therefore,  that 
might  have  led  to  an  acknowledgment  of  American 
independence.  No  wonder  that  Greene,  in  his  J uly 
letter  to  Sullivan,  had  said  : “ I charge  you  to  be 
victorious .” 

To  Khode  Islanders  in  general  the  withdrawal 
from  before  Newport  was  a step  full  of  dishearten- 
ment.  The  discriminating  refused  to  blame  Sulli- 
van, but  there  were  those  that  were  not  so  con- 
siderate. Such  an  one  was  our  acquaintance  John 

1 In  February,  1778,  the  General  Assembly  passed  an  act  per- 
mitting the  enlistment  in  Rhode  Island  of  ‘ ‘ negro,  mulatto,  or 
Indian  man  slaves.”  Under  this  act  two  battalions  of  negroes 
(slave  and  free  together)  were  forthwith  raised,  and  they  partici- 
pated in  the  battle  of  Rhode  Island.  It  has  been  customary  to 
ascribe  prowess  to  these  battalions,  but  the  investigations  of  Mr. 
S.  S.  Rider  (Hist.  Tract.  No.  10)  have  proved  that  the  negroes 
acquitted  themselves  with  little  distinction.  Indeed,  in  July,  1780, 
the  Assembly  forbade  any  further  enlistments  of  negroes. 


THE  THEATRE  OF  WAR 


233 


Brown  — John  Brown,  author  of  the  destruction  of 
the  Gaspee,  postponer  of  government  to  private 
advantage,  source  of  solicitude  upon  all  occasions 
to  his  brother  Moses.  And  what,  in  his  disgust  at 
still  being  forced  to  run  his  privateers  past  Brit- 
ish batteries,  J ohn  Brown  did,  was  to  write  a let- 
ter to  General  Greene,  in  which  he  pronounced  the 
late  expedition  “ the  worst  concerted  and  the  most 
disgracefully  executed  of  any  during  the  war.”  It 
is  gratifying  to  know  that  Greene’s  reply,  after  a 
careful  review  of  events,  was  this  : 44 1 cannot  help 
feeling  mortified  that  those  that  have  been  at  home 
making  their  fortune,  and  living  in  the  lap  of  lux- 
ury, and  enjoying  all  the  pleasures  of  domestic 
life,  should  be  the  first  to  sport  with  the  feelings 
of  officers  who  have  stood  as  a barrier  between 
them  and  ruin.” 

By  far  the  most  brilliant  local  naval  exploit  of 
the  year  1778  wars  the  opening  of  the  east  passage 
of  Narragansett  Bay  through  the  capture,  by  Ma- 
jor Silas  Talbot,  of  the  Pigot  galley. 

In  1776  Talbot,  a Bristol  youth  residing  at 
Providence,  had  performed  on  the  Hudson  River 
the  daring  feat  of  piloting  a fire-ship  against  the 
Asia,  a British  sixty-four  gun  vessel.  Ever  since 
that  time  Henry  Marchant  (to  whom  very  likely 
there  was  familiar  also  the  thrilling  story  of  the 
fire-ships  of  Antwerp)  had  been  a zealous  advocate 
of  the  use  of  such  craft  against  the  blockaders  near 


234 


RHODE  ISLAND 


Newport.  But  while,  in  deference  to  Marchant,  it 
had  been  arranged  in  August,  1777,  to  send  out 
six  large  fire-vessels  from  Providence,  Talbot  in 
October,  1778,  conceived  a surer  plan. 

With  the  consent  of  General  Sullivan,  he  fitted 
out  with  two  three-pounders  and  sixty  men  a coast- 
ing sloop  (the  Hawk)  in  which  to  make  an  attack 
on  the  Pigot  galley  by  night.  In  order  to  reach 
the  galley,  it  was  necessary  to  pass  two  British 
batteries : one  on  the  south  side  of  Bristol  Ferry, 
and  the  other  on  the  west  side  of  Fogland  Ferry. 
The  first  battery  was  passed  without  damage, 
though  not  without  discovery,  and  refuge  was 
taken  in  Taunton  River.  Here  Talbot  found  him- 
self obliged  to  await  a change  of  wind,  and  he  im- 
proved the  interval  by  riding  down  the  east  coast 
to  a point  in  Little  Compton  opposite  the  galley, 
where,  with  a glass,  he  was  able  to  make  a study 
of  that  craft.  She  was  a stout  brig  of  two  hundred 
tons,  from  which  the  upper  deck  had  been  removed, 
and  upon  the  lower  deck  of  which  there  had  been 
mounted  eight  twelve-pounders  and  ten  swivels. 
Furthermore,  she  was  protected  all  around  by  a 
boarding  net  of  unusual  height. 

As  a result  of  his  survey,  Talbot  asked  for  and 
obtained  a reinforcement  of  fifteen  men  under 
Lieutenant  John  Helme.  On  the  night  of  October 
28  he  slipped  silently  past  the  battery  at  Fogland 
Ferry,  and  then  made  all  sail.  Fearing  after  some 
time  that  he  might  have  missed  the  galley  in  the 


THE  THEATRE  OF  WAR 


235 


darkness,  he  anchored  and  sought  the  blockader 
in  a boat.  She  soon  loomed  up  massively  ahead, 
and  Talbot,  carefully  noting  her  position,  returned 
to  the  Hawk.  The  latter  was  then  directed  at 
full  speed  against  her  antagonist.  The  oncoming 
sloop  was  loudly  hailed  from  the  galley,  and  then 
greeted  with  a volley  of  musketry ; but  soon  the 
jib-boom  of  the  Hawk,  which  had  been  armed 
with  a kedge  anchor,  tore  a wide  hole  in  the  gal- 
ley’s net,  and  Talbot  and  his  men  were  enabled  to 
leap  on  board. 

There  was  little  or  no  struggle.  The  crew  of  the 
Pigot  all  fled  below.  Only  the  young  commander, 
Lieutenant  Dunlop,  made  a serious  show  of  fight, ‘ 
and  he,  like  Dudingston  of  the  Gaspee,  was  quickly 
overpowered.  When  he  found  that  he  had  been 
vanquished  by  a sloop  armed  with  three-pounders 
and  with  but  two  of  these,  he  threw  himself  in  tears 
upon  the  deck,  lamenting  the  loss  of  his  chances 
of  promotion,  — an  exhibition  of  natural  feeling 
with  which  Talbot  was  altogether  too  generous 
not  to  sympathize. 

Elation  in  Rhode  Island  over  the  capture  of  the 
Pigot  galley  was  quickly  followed  by  most  intense 
anxiety  regarding  the  means  of  subsistence.  Al- 
ready in  July,  1777,  at  a convention  of  the  New 
England  States  held  at  Springfield,  resolutions 
had  been  passed  on  the  money  question,  — the 
resolutions  referred  to  in  chapter  iii.  Others  were 


236 


RHODE  ISLAND 


passed  against  State  embargoes  on  food  stuffs, 
and  against  the  practice  of  “ forestalling  ” or 
“cornering”  the  market.  So  far,  however,  as  em- 
bargoes were  concerned,  the  action  taken  had  ac- 
complished little,  and  in  January,  1779,  William 
Greene  — governor  in  succession  to  Nicholas 
Cooke  and  a son  of  the  William  Greene  who  had 
served  as  governor  in  the  days  of  the  land  banks 
— found  it  incumbent  upon  him  to  write  a letter 
of  earnest  appeal  to  Connecticut. 

The  winter  was  one  of  appalling  severity.  More 
than  a thousand  refugees  from  Newport  were  on 
the  mainland  in  a condition  of  almost  complete 
destitution.  “ Our  situation,”  wrote  Governor 
Greene,  “is  perhaps  somewhat  similar  to  that  of 
the  good  old  patriarch  Jacob  and  his  numerous 
family  (a  little  republic)  when  he  sent  into  Egypt 
to  buy  a supply  of  corn,  saving  in  this  that  he  found 
no  embargo  to  prevent  his  purpose.”  Connecticut 
was  then  solemnly  adjured  to  remember  that 
“whoso  stoppeth  his  ears  at  the  cry  of  the  poor, 
he  also  shall  cry  himself,  but  shall  not  be  heard.” 
Be  it  said  at  once  that  Connecticut  did  not  prove 
recreant.  At  an  early  session  of  its  General  As- 
sembly it  granted  generous  relief.  And  not  only 
in  this  way  was  Rhode  Island  helped.  In  the  fol- 
lowing summer  General  Gates,  who  had  been 
appointed  to  succeed  Sullivan  in  the  eastern  de- 
partment, sent  Talbot,  in  the  sloop  Argo,  to  clear 
Long  Island  Sound  of  loyalist  privateers,  which  in 


THE  THEATRE  OF  WAR 


237 


great  numbers  were  hindering  the  importation  of 
grain,  and  never  was  task  of  the  kind  more  effec- 
tively performed. 

D’Estaing,  after  a long  sojourn  at  Boston  — a 
sojourn  enlivened  by  the  unwearied  hospitalities  of 
John  Hancock  — set  sail  in  November,  1778,  with 
his  fleet  for  the  West  Indies.  In  January,  1779, 
Lafayette  sailed  for  France.  From  the  West  Indies 
D’Estaing  went  to  Savannah,  and  thence  home. 
Never  again  did  he  behold  America.  In  France  he, 
like  others  of  the  period,  sought  to  secure  reforms 
while  avoiding  revolution,  and  his  fate  was  what 
might  have  been  expected.  He  died  by  the  guillo- 
tine in  1794.  As  for  Lafayette,  his  heart  and 
mind  were  absorbed  in  the  American  cause,  and 
it  was  through  him  chiefly  that  the  French  gov- 
ernment was  induced  to  send  to  America,  in  the 
spring  of  1780,  an  earnest  of  substantial  succor  in 
the  form  of  fifty-five  hundred  regular  troops,  com- 
manded by  Lieutenant-General  Comte  de  Rocham- 
beau,  and  convoyed  by  six  ships  of  the  line  under 
Admiral  Chevalier  de  Temay. 

Newport  was  evacuated  by  the  British  in  Octo- 
ber, 1779.  When,  therefore,  in  July,  1780,  De 
Ternay 1 (whose  orders,  inspired  by  Lafayette, 
were  to  land  in  Rhode  Island)  came  to  anchor  off 

1 Admiral  de  Ternay  died  at  Newport  in  December,  1780.  His 
monument  lends  to-day  a contemplative  interest  to  the  interior  of 
Trinity  Church. 


238 


RHODE  ISLAND 


Brenton’s  Point,  there  was  no  enemy  to  gainsay 
him. 

It  was  a brilliant  and  distinguished  group  of 
Frenchmen  that  for  a year  graced  the  social  circle 
of  Newport.  There  was  first  of  all  Rochambeau 
himself  quartered  in  the  stately  William  Yernon 
house  ; a man  not  striking  of  stature  but  keen-vis- 
aged  and  able  to  discuss  in  creditable  Latin  with 
Dr.  Ezra  Stiles  (now  President  of  Yale  College) 
the  capture  of  Andre.  Next  there  were  Rocham- 
beau’s  three  marechaux-de-camp,  with  quarters  at 
Mr.  Joseph  Wanton’s,  — the  two  Viom^nils,  fair 
haired  and  tall,  and  the  Chevalier  de  Chastellux, 
member  of  the  Academy,  and  pronounced  by  those 
with  a taste  for  letters  “ the  glory  of  the  army.” 
Aides,  too,  and  officers  of  varied  rank  (among 
them  the  Due  de  Lauzun,  famed  for  his  amours) 
were  domiciled  with  the  Levis,  the  Malbones,  the 
Redwoods,  the  Wards,  the  Hazards,  the  Free- 
bodys,  the  Riveras,  and  the  Coggeshalls.  And 
what  was  more,  these  men  (as  William  Channing 
noted  upon  their  arrival)  were  found  to  be  not  at 
all  “the  effeminate  Beings  we  were  heretofore 
taught  to  believe  them,  but  as  large  & as  likely  as 
can  be  produced  by  any  nation.” 

Nor,  in  turn,  did  the  social  resources  of  Newport 
prove  inadequate  to  the  unusual  demands  thus 
made  upon  them.  The  beauty  and  grace  of  the 
women  — always  notable  — more  than  ever  were 
notable  now ; so  much  so,  in  fact,  that  the  French 


THE  THEATRE  OF  WAR 


239 


gentlemen  who  met  Polly  Lawton  the  Quakeress, 
or  Margaret  and  Mary  Champlin,  or  Mehetable 
Redwood,  or  the  Misses  Hunter,  or  the  Misses 
Ellery,  were  apt  quite  to  forego  words  of  soberness 
in  describing  their  impressions.  A certain  fashion- 
able Newport  diversion,  however,  — that  of  copious 
tea-drinking, — gave  pause  even  to  Gallic  politeness. 
Not  only  was  the  practice  amiably  satirized  by 
Abbe  Robin,  but  the  story  was  told  how  a French 
officer,  after  heroically  imbibing  what  seemed  to 
him  quarts  of  the  insipid  beverage,  burst  forth 
to  his  hostess  : “ I shall  veesh  to  send  zat  servante 
to  helle  for  breenging  me  so  much  hot  vater  to 
dreenk.” 

The  pleasure  of  the  French  occupation  of  Rhode 
Island  was  not  confined  to  Newport.  A share  fell 
to  Providence.  Many  a gallant  Gaul  yielded  hom- 
age in  the  old  home  of  Polly  Olney  to  the  charms 
of  that  coquettish  damsel’s  worthy  successors,  — the 
Misses  Bowen,  Miss  Waity  Arnold,  and  Miss  Sally 
Church.  The  erudite  Chastellux  alone  waxed  cen- 
sorious. He  wrote : “ The  hair  of  the  feminine 
American  head  is  raised  and  supported  upon  cush- 
ions to  an  extravagant  height,  somewhat  resem- 
bling the  manner  in  which  French  ladies  wore 
their  hair  some  years  ago.” 

In  March,  1781,  Washington  (not  in  the  best 
of  humors,  it  is  said)  came  to  Newport  to  confer 
with  Rochambeau,  and  the  honors  vouchsafed  to 
him  by  the  French  were  of  the  most  elaborate 


240 


RHODE  ISLAND 


kind  — those,  in  a word,  as  Dr.  Stiles  observed  at 
the  time,  accorded  only  to  a marshal  of  France. 
The  fleet  thundered  a salute ; the  general,  with 
Rochambeau  unbonneted  on  his  left,  walked  from 
Long  Wharf  between  a double  line  of  soldiers  to 
the  State  House,  and  thence  to  the  count’s  head- 
quarters in  the  Vernon  house.  In  the  evening 
there  was  an  illumination  of  the  town.  Later  a 
great  ball  was  given,  and  Washington,  choosing  for 
a partner  the  radiant  Margaret  Champlin,  asked 
her  to  select  the  dance.  That  lady,  with  a tact  that 
threw  the  French  officers  present  into  an  ecstasy  of 
delight,  selected  “ A Successful  Campaign.”  And 
a successful  campaign  it  proved.  Washington, 
departing  westward,  ere  long  was  followed  by  the 
army  of  Rochambeau;  and,  on  October  14,  1781, 
Yorktown  (into  which  the  distinguished  Rhode 
Islander,  Nathanael  Greene,  had  edged  Cornwallis 
from  the  Carolinas)  was  taken  by  assault,  with 
Stephen  Olney  of  Rhode  Island  commanding  a 
detachment  at  the  head  of  the  storming  column. 


CHAPTER  XII 


THE  FEDERAL  CONSTITUTION 

The  Articles  of  Confederation  — David  Howell  and  the  Impost 
Measures  — Ratification  of  the  Great  Instrument. 

To  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  submitted  by 
Congress  to  the  States  for  ratification  in  Novem- 
ber, 1777,  Rhode  Island  had  acceded  in  February, 
1778.  Such  promptitude  in  the  adoption  of  a 
scheme  of  joint  political  action  on  the  part  of  a 
commonwealth  opposed  traditionally  to  any  scheme 
of  the  kind  was  due  to  the  necessities  of  war,  but  it 
was  due  also  to  saving  clauses  of  the  articles  in 
question.  Not  only  did  the  articles  expressly  re- 
serve to  each  State  its  44  sovereignty,  freedom,  and 
independence ; ” they  made  the  reservation  effec- 
tive by  inhibiting  Congress  from  regulating  the 
commerce  of  a State  with  other  States  or  with  for- 
eign countries,  and  from  levying  upon  a State  or 
its  people  either  direct  or  indirect  taxation.  How 
completely  the  Articles  of  Confederation  (which 
could  be  amended  only  with  the  consent  of  all  the 
States)  marked  the  extreme  limit  of  willing  ap- 
proach by  Rhode  Island  to  a system  of  Federal 
control  was  to  be  strikingly  demonstrated  in  the 
period  embraced  between  the  years  1781  and  1791. 


242 


RHODE  ISLAND 


On  February  3,  1781,  while  the  French  still 
were  in  occupation  of  Newport,  Congress  advised 
the  States  that  it  was  absolutely  indispensable,  to 
the  end  of  meeting  the  public  obligations,  that  it 
be  vested  with  power  to  impose  a duty  of  five  per 
cent  ad  valorem  on  all  goods  (with  enumerated 
exceptions)  to  be  imported  into  the  United  States 
after  the  first  of  May.  Robert  Morris  was  then 
chosen  Superintendent  of  Finance,  and  the  course 
of  events  anxiously  awaited.  Among  the  congres- 
sional delegates  from  Rhode  Island  was  James  M. 
Varnum.  Born  in  Massachusetts,  he  was  so  little 
of  a Rhode  Islander  in  spirit  that,  writing  to  Gov- 
ernor Greene  in  April,  1781,  he  conceived  it  no 
impropriety  to  suggest  that  a national  “conven- 
tion ” ought  to  be  called  “ to  revise  and  reform 
the  Articles  of  Confederation,  to  define  the  aggre- 
gate powers  of  the  United  States  in  Congress  as- 
sembled, to  fix  the  executive  departments  and 
ascertain  their  authorities.”  Indeed,  so  little  of 
a Rhode  Islander  was  he  that,  writing  again  in 
August,  he  said:  “ We  are  at  a loss  to  conjecture 
the  rumors  which  have  induced  the  State  of  Rhode 
Island  to  delay  complying  with  the  requisition  of 
Congress,  respecting  the  five  per  cent  duty.” 

At  the  close  of  1781,  when  Varnum  returned 
home,  his  perplexity  over  the  “ delay  ” by  Rhode 
Island  in  authorizing  the  five  per  cent  duty  was 
removed.  In  January,  1782,  the  pen  of  “Dixit 
Senex  ” declared  in  the  columns  of  the  Providence 


THE  FEDERAL  CONSTITUTION 


243 


“ Gazette  ” that  while  “ Congress  may  call  on  us 
for  money,  it  cannot  prescribe  to  us  methods  of 
raising  it.”  In  this  statement  there  was  condensed 
the  whole  Rhode  Island  doctrine.  The  Narragan- 
sett  Bay  commonwealth  had  withheld  its  approval 
of  the  proposed  tariff  for  the  reason  that  it  per- 
ceived in  it  a limitation  upon  its  autonomy.  Even 
in  colonial  days  — the  days  of  its  nonage  — Rhode 
Island  had  been  the  most  restive  of  all  the  colonies 
under  the  regulations  of  British  commercial  policy. 
Why,  therefore,  after  it  had  just  freed  itself  from 
the  plague  of  outside  tariffs  and  outside  collectors, 
should  it,  through  an  authorization  to  Congress  of 
a five  per  cent  duty,  re-subject  itself  to  tyranny  ? So 
argued  “ Dixit  Senex.” 

To  “ Senex  ” Yarnum  replied  forcibly,  but  with 
the  result  of  calling  into  the  field  of  debate  the 
keenest  and  best  equipped  champion  of  the  pe- 
culiar political  ideas  of  Rhode  Island  which  that 
commonwealth  hag"  ever  possessed  — David  Howell. 
Both  Yarnum  and  Howell  have  come  within  our 
ken  as  they  stood  a few  years  later  — the  one  a 
powerful  advocate  at  the  bar,  and  the  other  a 
courageous  and  discriminating  judge  upon  the 
bench ; but  at  the  moment  Howell  was  a young 
lawyer  of  Providence  unknown  to  fame.  Upon 
his  graduation  from  Princeton  in  1766  he  had 
come  to  town  at  the  earnest  request  of  James 
Manning,  and  had  since  filled  the  chair  of  natural 
philosophy  in  Brown  University.  His  literary  style 


244 


RHODE  ISLAND 


was  fluent,  flexible,  and  trenchant,  and  at  the  end 
of  his  controversy  with  Varnum  he  became  widely 
enough  known  to  be  elected  to  Congress. 

The  conditions  which  confronted  him  in  that 
body  were  not  encouraging.  Eleven  States  had 
signified  their  more  or  less  cordial  approval  of  the 
projected  tariff  or  impost.  Only  Georgia  and 
Rhode  Island  were  holding  back,  and  of  these 
Georgia  was  not  fixed  in  resolution.  In  order  to 
bring  matters  to  a head,  Congress  appointed  a com- 
mittee to  inquire  of  the  two  States  why  they  had 
not  pursued  the  course  of  the  other  States.  At  the 
sessions  of  this  committee  Robert  Morris  attended 
and  Howell  appeared  for  Rhode  Island.  The  ob- 
jections by  Howell  to  the  impost  were  four  in  num- 
ber : (1)  that  the  revenue  raised  by  it  would  go 
to  the  United  States,  whereas  in  the  case  of  Rhode 
Island  (a  maritime  community)  any  such  revenue 
ought  to  go  to  the  State  alone ; (2)  that  the  war 
had  so  wasted  the  shores  of  Narragansett  Bay  that 
it  was  needful  for  Rhode  Island  to  conserve  every 
source  of  income  ; (3)  that  a sovereign  State  should 
itself  collect  all  taxes  levied  within  its  borders ; 
and  (4)  that  the  duration  of  the  proposed  impost 
was  indefinite  and  might  be  made  perpetual.  In 
modification  of  the  measure  as  it  stood,  Howell 
suggested  clauses  providing  for  the  deduction  of  the 
proceeds  of  the  impost  from  the  annual  quota  of 
Continental  requisitions  upon  a State  and  for  collec- 
tion by  officers  locally  chosen. 


THE  FEDERAL  CONSTITUTION 


245 


A careful  reply  to  Howell  was  submitted  by 
Robert  Morris  to  Governor  William  Greene  on 
August  2,  but  without  result ; and  in  October 
Congress,  under  the  leadership  of  Alexander  Ham- 
ilton and  James  Madison,  passed  a resolution  de- 
manding from  both  Georgia  and  Rhode  Island  an 
explicit  avowal  as  to  whether  they  would  or  would 
not  approve  the  impost. 

The  crisis  drew  from  Howell  one  of  his  most 
telling  appeals  to  his  constituency.  It  bore  date 
October  15  and  began  thus : “ The  object  of  a 
seven  years’  war  has  been  to  preserve  the  liberties 
of  this  country.  ...  It  has  been  on  our  part  a 
contest  for  freedom  — not  for  power!  ...  We 
know  your  early,  continued,  and  persevering  zeal 
in  your  country’s  cause.  We  cannot  doubt  your 
firmness.  To  quicken  your  memory,  awaken  your 
feelings,  and  to  fix  your  attention,  is  the  object  of 
this  letter.”  The  abiding  arguments  of  particularism 
against  authority  were  then  lucidly  rehearsed,  and 
the  State  was  abjured  not  to  take  the  irrevocable 
step  of  sanctioning  the  impost  if  it  had  “a  single 
remaining  doubt.”  With  Howell’s  plea  before  it, 
the  Rhode  Island  General  Assembly  met  at  East 
Greenwich  on  the  last  Monday  in  October,  1782, 
and  on  November  1 voted  unanimously  against  the 
impost  plan. 

The  struggle  between  Rhode  Island  and  Con- 
gress over  the  impost  was  now  given  a turn  not  a 
little  dramatic.  Howell  had  been  in  the  practice 


246 


RHODE  ISLAND 


of  writing  to  John  Carter,  publisher  of  the  Provi- 
dence “ Gazette,”  upon  the  proceedings  of  Congress. 
Prom  one  of  his  letters  a paragraph  stating  that 
the  credit  of  the  United  States  abroad  was  such 
that  “ of  late  they  had  failed  in  no  application  for 
loans  ” had  appeared  in  print  on  November  2. 
Indignant  at  the  course  of  Howell  (who  was  held 
responsible  for  the  course  of  Rhode  Island),  Ham- 
ilton and  Madison  were  stirred  to  the  quick  by  this 
statement  concerning  the  public  credit  — a state- 
ment designed  to  belittle  the  need  of  an  impost  — 
and  proceedings  were  set  on  foot  to  discredit 
Howell  in  his  own  State. 

On  December  18  the  Rhode  Island  delegate 
introduced  in  Congress  a resolution  avowing  and 
justifying  the  “ Gazette  ” paragraph  and  challen- 
ging criticism  of  himself.  On  December  20  Hamil- 
ton and  Madison,  as  members  of  a committee  of 
inquiry  which  had  been  appointed,  recommended 
that  Howell’s  resolution  “ be  transmitted  by  the 
Secretary  for  Foreign  Affairs  to  the  Executive  of 
the  State  of  Rhode  Island  with  an  authentic  copy 
of  the  several  applications  for  foreign  loans,  and 
the  result  thereof.”  Over  the  recommendation  a 
sharp  struggle  ensued.  It  was  short  as  well  as 
sharp,  for  at  nearly  every  turn  the  vote  of  Rhode 
Island  was  left  unsupported. 

In  undertaking,  however,  to  influence  Rhode  Is- 
land by  discrediting  its  chief  delegate,  it  soon  be- 
came apparent  that  Congress  had  erred  profoundly. 


THE  FEDERAL  CONSTITUTION 


247 


In  February,  1783,  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
State  passed  resolutions  indorsing  unreservedly 
Howell’s  entire  conduct.  Nor  did  the  indorsement 
prove  to  be  less  hearty  in  view  of  the  circumstance 
that  for  six  weeks  the  celebrated  Thomas  Paine, 
with  headquarters  at  Providence,  had  been  plead- 
ing eloquently  the  cause  of  Congress  in  the  Rhode 
Island  press. 

Interest  in  the  congressional  debate  of  1782  over 
the  impost  attaches  in  a peculiar  degree  to  the 
individuals  concerned.  That  a professor  of  natural 
philosophy  should  so  brilliantly  have  withstood  the 
embittered  opposition  of  the  superb  Hamilton  and 
astute  Madison  can  but  excite  admiration.  Hamil- 
ton and  Madison  supported  each  other  and  were 
both  supported  by  Congress.  Howell,  save  for  the 
countenanceof  his  colleague  Jonathan  Arnold,  faced 
argument  and  enmity  alone.  The  position  of  the 
Rhode  Islander  at  Ihis  time  was  almost  exactly  that 
of  John  C.  Calhoun  (his  intellectual  compeer)  in 
1833,  when,  unsustained  save  by  South  Carolina, 
Calhoun  threatened  nullification  and  incurred  the 
wrath  of  Andrew  Jackson. 

Howell  was  returned  to  Congress  in  1783  and 
also  in  1784.  In  the  latter  year,  as  in  1782, 
Rhode  Island  was  made  the  object  of  attentions 
the  reverse  of  flattering.  Congress  in  1783  had 
again  proposed  a five  per  cent  duty.  It  was  to 
be  collected  by  locally  appointed  officers  and  to 


248 


RHODE  ISLAND 


continue  only  twenty-five  years.  But  tlie  taste  of 
Rhode  Island  to  sanction  the  new  proposal  proved 
to  be  no  greater  than  it  had  been  to  sanction  the 
old  one.  Howell  opposed  sanction  in  his  letters, 
and  what  was  more,  some  of  the  States  formerly 
receptive  to  the  idea  of  an  impost  now  (influenced 
by  Rhode  Island’s  example)  were  of  a contrary 
mind.  Irritated  by  the  situation,  certain  of  the 
“ young  men  in  Congress  ” raised  in  1784  a question 
upon  the  technical  sufficiency  of  the  credentials  of 
Howell  and  his  colleagues.  After  a heated  debate, 
Mercer  of  Virginia  and  Spaight  of  North  Carolina 
both  challenged  the  Rhode  Islander  to  a duel. 
David  Howell  — man  of  commanding  physique, 
aquiline  nose,  and  defiant  chin  — replied  that  he 
meant  “ to  chastise  any  insults  that  he  might  re- 
ceive,” and  laid  the  communications  before  Con- 
gress. In  1784  Annapolis,  Maryland  (a  town  said 
to  have  been  without  a single  house  of  worship), 
was  the  temporary  seat  of  Continental  government. 
Social  life  there  was  of  the  gayest  — a life  of  card- 
playing, the  theatre,  “ balls,  concerts,  routs,  hops, 
fandangoes,  and  fox  hunting.”  Upon  it  all  Howell, 
as  a man  with  New  England  conscience,  turned 
disdainfully  his  back. 

But  the  uncompromising  hostility  of  Rhode 
Island  to  an  impost  was  beginning  to  give  way. 
The  cause  was  commerce.  Hitherto  when  asked  : 
“ How  are  the  United  States  to  meet  their  debts  ? ” 
Rhode  Island’s  reply  had  regularly  been  : “ By  the 


THE  FEDERAL  CONSTITUTION 


249 


proceeds  of  the  public  lands.”  Now  conditions  were 
a good  deal  changed.  In  July,  1783,  Great  Britain 
had  put  in  operation  a plan  of  discrimination 
against  the  extensive  trade  of  New  England  with 
the  British  West  Indies.  English  manufactured 
goods,  too,  were  flooding  the  New  England  market. 
A tariff  of  some  kind  was  demanded  for  self-preser- 
vation. What  was  to  be  done  ? Clearly  one  thing 
only,  and  that  was  to  invest  Congress  with  power 
to  regulate  commerce  — in  other  words,  to  establish 
a uniform  impost.  This  power  Rhode  Island  with 
many  qualms,  but  screwing  its  courage  to  the  stick- 
ing point,  granted  in  February,  1786. 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  exaltation  of 
particularism  between  1782  and  1785  by  David 
Howell  laid  the  foundation  for  some  of  Rhode 
Island’s  extreme  distrust  of  the  Federal  Constitu- 
tion of  1787.  The  instrument  would  have  been 
distrusted  by  Rhode  Island  in  any  event,  but  How- 
ell supplied  an  arsenal  of  controversial  weapons 
against  it. 

Hostility  to  the  Constitution,  though,  came  from 
a source  different  from  that  whence  had  come  hos- 
tility to  the  impost.  The  enemies  of  the  impost 
had  been  the  merchants.  They  had  feared  its 
effect  on  trade.  Toward  the  Constitution  — an  in- 
strument largely  designed  to  protect  trade  — an 
instrument  the  outcome  in  fact  of  the  recommenda- 
tion of  a convention  called  in  1786,  at  the  instance 


250 


RHODE  ISLAND 


of  Virginia,  to  deliberate  upon  trade  — tbe  mer- 
chants were  hospitably  inclined.1 

1 Providence,  May  11th,  1787. 

Gentlemen, 

Since  the  Legislature  of  this  State  have  finally  declined  sending 
Delegates  to  meet  you  in  Convention  for  the  purposes  mentioned 
in  the  Resolve  of  Congress  of  the  21st  February,  1787,  — the 
Merchants,  Tradesmen,  and  Others  of  this  Place,  deeply  Affected 
with  the  evils  of  the  present  unhappy  times,  have  thought  proper 
to  communicate  in  writing  their  approbation  of  your  Meeting, 
And  their  regret  that  it  will  fall  short  of  a Compleat  represen- 
tation of  the  Federal  Union.  — 

The  failure  of  this  State  was  owing  to  the  nonconcurrence  of 
the  Upper  House  of  Assembly  with  a Vote  passed  in  the  Lower 
House,  for  Appointing  Delegates  to  attend  the  said  Convention,  at 
their  Session  Holden  at  Newport,  on  the  first  Wednesday  of  the 
present  Month.  — 

It  is  the  General  Opinion  here,  and  we  believe  of  the  well  in- 
formed throughout  this  State,  that  full  power  for  the  regulation 
of  the  Commerce  of  the  United  States,  both  foreign  and  Domes- 
tick,  ought  to  be  vested  in  the  National  Council.  And  that 
Effectual  Arrangements  should  also  be  made  for  giving  operation 
to  the  present  powers  of  Congress  in  their  Requisitions  upon  the 
States  for  National  purposes.  — 

As  the  object  of  this  Letter  is  chiefly  to  prevent  any  impressions 
unfavourable  to  the  Commercial  Interest  of  this  State,  from  take- 
ing  place  in  our  Sister  States,  from  the  Circumstance  of  our  being 
unrepresented  in  the  present  National  Convention,  we  shall  not 
presume  to  enter  into  any  detail  of  the  objects  we  hope  your  delib- 
erations will  embrace  and  provide  for,  being  Convinced  they  will 
be  such  as  have  a Tendency  to  strengthen  the  Union,  promote 
Commerce,  increase  the  power,  and  Establish  the  Credit  of  the 
United  States. 

The  result  of  your  deliberations,  tending  to  these  desirable  pur- 
poses, we  still  hope  may  finally  be  approved  & adopted  by  this 
State  ; for  which  we  pledge  our  Influence  & best  exertions.  — 

This  will  be  delivered  you  by  the  Honourable  James  M.  Var- 
num,  Esquire,  who  will  communicate  (with  your  permission)  in 


THE  FEDERAL  CONSTITUTION 


251 


It  was  on  February  21,  1787,  that  Congress 
resolved  for  a convention  of  delegates  to  be  held  on 
the  second  Monday  in  May,  at  Philadelphia,  to  so 
modify  the  Articles  of  Confederation  as  to  render 
them  “ adequate  to  the  exigencies  of  government 
and  the  preservation  of  the  Union.”  In  this  con- 
vention by  the  end  of  June  Rhode  Island  alone 
among  the  States  was  unrepresented.  To  Rhode 
Island  itself  the  fact  gave  little  concern.  The  State 
was  under  the  control  of  the  traditional  separatists, 
the  agriculturalists,  and  their  indifference  to  Fed- 
eral affairs  had  been  evinced  the  year  previous  in 
the  case  of  James  Manning,  President  of  Brown 
University,  whom  they  had  sent  to  Congress  and 
then  left  (as  Roger  Williams  had  once  been  left  in 
England)  without  money  wherewith  to  hire  even  a 
barber  or  to  keep  from  a debtor’s  prison. 

But  on  all  sides  a storm  of  criticism  was  begin- 

person,  more  particularly  our  Sentiments  on  the  Subject  matter  of 
our  Address. 

In  behalf  of  the  Merchants,  Tradesmen,  &c, 

We  have  the  Honour  to  be,  with  perfect  Consideration  And 
Respect, 

Your  most  Obedient  and 

Most  Humble  Servants, 

John  Brown,  Jabez  Bowen 

Jos.  Nightingale,  Nichos.  Brown 

Levi  Hall  John  Jenckes 

Phillip  Allen,  Welcome  Arnold  In 

Paul  Allen  William  Russell  ^ mtee. 

Jeremiah  Olney 
William  Barton 
Thos.  Lloyd  Halsey 
Pub.  R.  I.  Hist.  Soc.  vol.  ii,  p.  169. 


252 


RHODE  ISLAND 


ningto  descend.  Massachusetts  (true  to  the  policy 
of  Winthrop)  was  for  “ appropriating  Rhode  Island 
to  the  different  States  that  surround  her.”  Wash- 
ington stigmatized  “ her  public  councils  ” as  “ scan- 
dalous.” Madison  spoke  of  the  “ wickedness  and 
folly  that  reigned.”  Even  Varnum  denounced  those 
responsible  for  the  local  apathy  and  obstinacy  as 
“ destitute  of  education  and  void  of  principle.”  At 
last,  in  September,  1787,  after  the  General  Assem- 
bly had  thrice  refused  to  appoint  delegates  and  two 
days  before  the  great  convention  at  Philadelphia 
adjourned,  the  State  dispatched  a letter  to  the 
President  of  Congress  in  explanation  of  its  course. 
Allusion  was  made  to  “ our  being  diffident  of  power.” 
But  the  main  excuse  was  the  shifty  one  that  the 
freemen  and  not  the  General  Assembly  were  the 
only  body  by  which  delegates  might  be  appointed. 

Before  the  month  of  September  expired  the 
Constitution  was  submitted  to  the  several  States 
for  ratification,  and  Rhode  Island  found  itself  con- 
fronted by  the  most  serious  crisis  in  its  history 
since  the  days  of  “boundaries.”  The  new  instru- 
ment was  to  go  into  effect  upon  ratification  by  nine 
States,  and  any  State  that  chose  not  to  ratify  must 
face  the  prospect  of  an  existence  uncommiserated 
without  the  pale.  The  step  first  taken  was  to  refer 
the  instrument  to  the  towns,  and  with  the  reference 
there  began  discussion.  On  January  28,  1788, 
a writer  in  the  Newport  “ Mercury  ” gave  warn- 
ing : “ If  you  adopt  the  proposed  Constitution,  you 


THE  FEDERAL  CONSTITUTION 


253 


will  subject  yourselves  to  a government  where  you 
will  be  totally  unprotected  by  a bill  of  rights.  . . . 
Your  Federal  Senate  is  to  be  in  place  for  six 
years,  and  senators,  by  reason  of  their  importance 
and  of  their  participation  in  executive  power,  may 
make  themselves  in  effect  absolute.’’  The  commu- 
nication (one  marked  by  undeniable  foresight) 
concluded  with  a statement  that  under  the  Con- 
stitution the  Federal  Supreme  Court  might  issue 
execution  against  a State  in  a case  where  a State 
was  a party. 

To  these  strictures  a contributor  signing  himself 
“ A Rhode  Island  Man  ” replied  on  February  25. 
As  for  the  exercise  of  absolute  power  by  the  new 
government,  what,  he  asked,  could  exceed  for  ab- 
soluteness the  power  habitually  exercised  by  the 
Rhode  Island  General  Assembly  ? The  Constitu- 
tion, indeed,  was  like  a new  house  built  to  be  ten- 
anted by  a large  family.  Each  member  found 
some  fault  with  it : it  was  not  large  enough  ; the 
windows  were  upside  down  ; the  doors  were  so  con- 
trived [an  allusion  to  the  purely  secular  character 
of  the  instrument]  that  a Turk  might  go  in  and 
out  as  freely  as  a Christian  ; or  it  should  have  been 
round,  three-sided,  or  twelve-sided,  — one  side  to- 
ward every  State  except  Rhode  Island.  Servants, 
too  [representatives  and  senators],  must  be  hired 
for  two  and  six  years,  — long  periods.  A better 
plan  would  have  admitted  of  their  being  hired 
afresh  every  morning.  Worse  than  all  else,  the 


254 


RHODE  ISLAND 


inmates  would  be  obliged  to  furnish  their  own  pro- 
visions. It  ought  to  have  been  so  devised  that  they 
might  be  supported  “ by  manna  or  by  quails.” 

The  result  of  the  reference  of  the  Constitution 
•to  the  towns  (a  result  intensified  by  abstention 
from  voting  on  the  part  of  many)  was  rejection 
by  a great  majority.  Agitation  then  (March,  1788) 
was  begun  for  the  holding  of  a constitutional  con- 
vention. The  General  Assembly  thrice  refused  to 
call  a convention,  and  by  July  26  New  York  had 
ratified  and  the  Constitution  was  in  effect  beyond 
all  controversy.  Where  now  was  Rhode  Island  ? 
Along  with  North  Carolina  (the  Rhode  Island  of 
the  South)  it  was  upon  its  own  by  no  means  su- 
perabounding  resources.  In  November,  1789,  its 
isolation  was  made  still  more  pronounced  by  ratifi- 
cation by  North  Carolina.  Meanwhile  the  State 
had  four  times  more  refused  to  call  a convention, 
and  had  dared  even  to  hint  at  a foreign  alliance. 

What  at  length,  in  1790,  turned  the  current  in 
the  little  but  resolute  commonwealth  in  favor  of 
the  Constitution  was  what  in  1786  had  turned  the 
current  there  in  favor  of  a Federal  impost,  namely, 
commerce.  On  the  accession  to  the  Union  of  New 
Hampshire,  the  ninth  State,  Providence  (now  rather 
than  Newport  the  commercial  centre)  had  rung  its 
bells,  fired  its  cannon,  and  held  a barbecue  ; and 
on  the  accession  of  New  York  it  again  had  indulged 
in  jubilation.  When,  therefore,  in  July,  1789,  the 
national  House  of  Representatives  passed  a tariff 


THE  FEDERAL  CONSTITUTION 


255 


act  which  made  no  exemption  in  favor  of  Rhode 
Island,  Providence  was  in  a position  to  point  to  the 
hurtful  consequences.  In  September  the  General 
Assembly  indited  a letter  to  the  two  houses  of  Con- 
gress expressing  the  hope  that  “ we  shall  not  be 
altogether  considered  as  foreigners  ”...  and  that 
“ trade  and  commerce,  upon  which  the  prosperity 
of  this  State  much  depends,  will  be  preserved  as 
free  and  open  between  this  and  the  United  States 
as  our  different  situations  at  present  can  possibly 
admit.”  The  olive  branch  was  taken.  To  Rhode 
Island  there  was  granted  exemption  from  revenue 
restrictions  until  January,  1790. 

On  the  17th  of  January  the  General  Assembly 
by  a close  vote  ordered  the  calling  of  a conven- 
tion. The  convention  met  on  March  1 in  South 
Kingstown.  J abez  Bowen  of  Providence  and  Henry 
Marchant  of  Newport  led  the  Federalists,  while 
the  Anti-Federalists  were  led  by  John  Collins  and 
the  astute  Jonathan  J.  Hazard  of  South  Kings- 
town. The  principal  topic  of  debate  would  seem 
to  have  been  the  Constitution  and  slavery.  Nathan 
Miller  of  Warren  asserted  that  he  had  the  Word 
of  God  in  his  house,  and  that  it  contained  nothing 
against  slavery.  On  the  other  hand,  Colonel  Wil- 
liam Barton  of  Providence  (he  of  the  Prescott 
seizure)  declared  that  slavery  was  contrary  to  the 
New  Testament.  A bill  of  rights,  containing  among 
other  things  a section  condemning  the  slave  trade 
as  “ disgraceful  to  liberty  and  humanity,”  was  se- 


256 


RHODE  ISLAND 


cured  by  the  Anti-Federalists,  and  at  the  same  time 
an  adjournment  was  taken  to  May  24,  at  Newport. 

When  the  convention  reassembled,  it  did  so  in 
the  face  of  yet  stronger  pressure  for  ratification. 
Congress,  hampered  by  the  absence  of  Rhode  Island 
representatives  in  its  consideration  of  such  ques- 
tions as  the  location  of  the  Federal  capital  and  the 
assumption  of  the  State  debts,  had  hinted  covertly 
at  coercion.  The  Senate  had  even  gone  so  far  as  to 
pass  a resolution  in  favor  of  a bill  for  severing 
relations  between  the  United  States  and  Rhode 
Island,  and  for  demanding  of  the  latter  a payment 
of  money  on  account  with  the  United  States.  Nor 
was  it  Congress  alone  that  exerted  pressure.  Prov- 
idence, boldly  reverting  to  ideas  current  in  the 
age  of  Roger  Williams,  threatened,  under  sanction 
from  Congress,  to  secede  from  its  connection  with 
the  agricultural  section  and  to  set  up  for  itself. 
Wrought  upon  by  the  combined  influences  de- 
scribed, but  more  than  by  any  other  influence  by 
that  of  fear  of  commercial  isolation,  Rhode  Island 
on  May  29  ratified  the  Constitution  by  the  suffi- 
cient yet  significant  majority  of  two  votes. 

In  his  admirable  monograph,  “ Rhode  Island  and 
the  Formation  of  the  Union,”  Dr.  Frank  G.  Bates 
deplores  the  lack  at  this  time  in  his  native  State  of 
competent  popular  leaders  devoted  to  Federalism. 
South  Carolina  had  its  Pinckneys  and  Rutledges  ; 
Massachusetts  its  Ameses  and  Kings ; Virginia  its 
Madisons  and  Marshalls  ; New  York  its  Alexander 


THE  FEDERAL  CONSTITUTION 


257 


Hamilton.  Rhode  Island  had  no  one.  Invaluable 
would  have  been  the  leadership  of  a Stephen  Hop- 
kins. The  Nestor  himself  — friend  of  organic  union 
in  America  since  1764  — had  only  in  1785  passed 
away,  but  no  successor  was  at  hand.  James  Yarnum 
had  in  1788  removed  to  the  Northwest  Territory. 
As  for  David  Howell,  he  (had  he  come  forward) 
presumably  must  have  done  so  against  the  Union. 
But  he  did  not  come  forward.  His  course  in  1786 
in  Trevett  vs.  Weeden  had  alienated  from  him  the 
agriculturalists,  and  henceforth  his  time  and  thought 
were  devoted  wholly  to  jurisprudence. 

The  stability  which  Rhode  Island  had  gained 
under  the  restraints  of  the  Revolution  was  aug- 
mented under  the  milder  restraints  of  the  Federal 
bond,  and  soon  the  towns  began  to  turn  their 
glances  backward  to  commerce  and  forward  to 
manufactures. 


CHAPTER  XIII 


DECLINE  OF  COMMERCE  AND  ESTABLISHMENT  OF 
MANUFACTURES 

Slave  Trade  and  Commerce  at  Newport  and  Bristol  — Moses 
Brown  and  the  Cotton  Industry  at  Providence  — John  Brown 
and  the  East  India  Trade — The  Barbary  Corsairs  — War  of 
1812  — Samuel  Slater  — Political  Conditions  — Visits  of  Talley- 
rand and  Lafayette. 

It  was  Providence  that  directed  its  glances  both 
forward  and  backward.  Newport  looked  only  back- 
ward. 

In  1779,  when  the  British  evacuated  Newport, 
they  left  it  a shadow  of  its  former  self.  Pigot, 
withdrawing  within  his  lines  before  the  advance 
of  Sullivan,  had  burned  houses  and  hewn  down 
groves.  The  compact  part  of  the  town,  too,  had 
suffered.  On  May  31,  1780,  Dr.  Stiles  wrote: 
“ About  three  hundred  dwelling  house  I judge  have 
been  destroyed.  The  Town  is  in  Ruins.  But  with 
Nehemiah  I could  prefer  the  very  dust  of  Zion  to 
the  Gardens  of  Persia,  and  the  broken  walls  of 
Jerusalem  to  the  Palaces  of  Sushan.  I rode  over 
the  Isle  and  found  the  beautiful  Rows  of  Trees 
which  lined  the  Roads,  with  sundry  coppices  or 
groves  & Orchards  down  and  laid  waste  ; but  the 


COMMERCE  AND  MANUFACTURES  259 


natural  Beauties  of  the  Place  still  remain.  And  I 
doubt  not  the  place  will  be  rebuilt  & exceed  its 
former  splendor.”  1 

A final  and  irreparable  piece  of  mischief  was 
worked  by  the  departing  loyalists.  They  carried 
away  with  them  to  New  York  the  town  records. 
These  through  the  wrecking  at  Hell  Gate  of  the 
transporting  vessel  were  submerged  for  a time  in 
salt  water.  Upon  the  request  of  Washington,  they 
were  recovered  by  Sir  Guy  Carleton  and  restored ; 
but  they  were  almost  undecipherable,  and  long 
remained  a reddened  mass  ready  to  crumble  at 
the  touch. 

At  the  close  of  the  Revolution  Newport  cast 

1 “ I have  seen  not  a little  of  other  countries,  but  I never  saw 
any  Island  that  unites  finer  views,  rendered  pleasant  by  vari- 
ety of  hill  & vale,  rocks,  reefs,  beaches,  Islands  & perennial  ponds 
than  this.  . . . Before  the  discovery  of  our  mineral  spring's,  Rh. 
Island  was  in  one  view  the  Bath  of  the  American  world.  . . . This 
and  the  Redwood  Library  gave  it  both  a literary  & a genteel 
air ; and  rendered  it  the  best  bred  society  in  N.  England.  But 
— alas!  — how  changed  ! The  British  destroyed,  for  fuel,  about 
900  [?]  buildings,  of  [to]  be  sure  the  poorer  sort ; yet  it  has  never 
recovered  the  dilapidation.  The  town  of  Providence  has  risen 
to  riches  & elegance  from  the  ruins  of  this  once  beautiful  spot ; 
while  Newport  resembles  an  old  battered  shield  — its  scars  & 
bruises  are  deep  and  indelible.  Commerce,  & all  the  Jews  are  fled. 
The  wharves  are  deserted  & the  lamp  in  the  synagogue  is  ex- 
tinct ; and  the  people  are  now  so  poor,  that  there  are  not  more 
than  ten,  or  a dozen  people  who  would  have  the  courage  to  in- 
vite a stranger  to  his  table.”  — Benjamin  Waterhouse,  Letter  to 
Thomas  Jefferson,  September  14,  1822.  Pub.  R.  I.  Hist.  Soc. 
vol.  ii.  See  also  Brissot  de  Warville,  Pictures  of  R.  I.  in  the  Past , 
edited  by  Gertrude  S.  Kimball. 


260 


RHODE  ISLAND 


back  a longing  glance  in  particular  upon  the  slave 
trade.  It  was  in  this  trade  that  the  town  had 
grown  rich,  and  to  this  trade  that  it  was  most  at- 
tached. Difficulties,  however,  were  accumulating 
in  the  way  of  it.  The  Rhode  Island  law  of  1774 
prohibiting  the  importation  of  slaves  gave  little 
concern.  So  did  the  law  of  ten  years  later  pro- 
viding for  local  emancipation.  But  in  1787  par- 
ticipation by  Rhode  Islanders  in  the  foreign  slave 
trade  was  forbidden  ; and  in  1794, 1800,  and  1803 
the  Federal  Congress  passed  laws  amounting,  when 
taken  together,  to  a prohibition  of  the  foreign  slave 
trade  to  all  American  citizens,  and  also  of  the  do- 
mestic trade  wherever  forbidden  by  local  law. 

Under  these  conditions  embarrassment  for  the 
slave  traders  was  relieved  by  the  action  of  South 
Carolina.  That  State  in  1788  had  forbidden  slave 
importations.  The  law  had  failed  of  enforcement, 
so  in  1803  it  was  repealed.  Straightway  Rhode 
Island  began  sending  to  Charleston  great  numbers 
of  slave  ships.  Between  1804  and  1807  Great  Brit- 
ain, France,  Sweden,  Massachusetts,  Connecticut, 
Maryland,  Virginia,  and  South  Carolina  all  availed 
themselves  of  the  open  slave  port  of  Charleston ; 
but  none  of  them  (Great  Britain  and  South  Caro- 
lina excepted)  to  the  same  extent  as  did  Rhode 
Island.  Of  the  202  vessels  entered  at  Charleston 
during  the  years  indicated,  three  were  from  France, 
one  was  from  Sweden,  one  from  Massachusetts,  and 
one  from  Connecticut ; four  were  from  Maryland, 


COMMERCE  AND  MANUFACTURES  261 


and  two  from  Virginia.  On  the  other  hand,  seventy 
were  from  Great  Britain,  sixty-one  from  South 
Carolina,  and  fifty-nine  from  Rhode  Island. 

The  zeal  of  Newport  in  the  post-Revolutionary 
slave  trade  and  at  the  same  time  the  comparative 
indifference  of  Providence  to  that  trade  come  out 
clearly  in  the  correspondence  of  the  day.  On  Au- 
gust, 17,  1789,  Samuel  Hopkins  wrote  from  New- 
port to  Moses  Brown  : “ The  combined  opposition 
to  a suppression  of  the  trade  in  slaves  is  so  great 
and  strong  here  that  I think  no  anti-slavery  com- 
mittee formed  in  this  town  would  be  able  to  do 
much.”  And  in  1791  (December  5)  William 
Ellery,  himself  a Newporter,  wrote : “ An  Ethi- 
opian could  as  soon  change  his  skin  as  a Newport 
merchant  could  be  induced  to  change  so  lucrative 
a trade  as  that  in  slaves  for  the  slow  profits  of  any 
manufactory.” 

It  is  true  that  in  1807  Congress,  availing  itself 
of  a provision  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  passed 
an  act  forbidding  absolutely  and  for  the  whole 
country  any  further  importation  of  slaves.  But 
before  the  act  went  into  effect  (to  say  nothing  of 
what  took  place  afterwards) 1 the  example  of  slave- 

1 Bristol,  August  20th,  1816. 

Mr.  Obadiah  Brown 

My  Esteemed  Friend,  — The  impunity  with  which  prohib- 
ited traffic  is  carried  on  from  this  Place,  has  for  some  time 
rendered  it  the  occasional  resort  of  many  violators  of  commercial 
law  from  other  Places,  as  well  as  the  constant  residence  of  others. 
The  African  slave-trade  is  the  one  of  this  description  now  most 


262 


RHODE  ISLAND 


trading  Newport  had  been  followed  by  the  ener- 
getic town  of  Bristol. 

In  1744,  when  Simeon  Potter  was  making  his 

successfully  and  extensively  prosecuted.  Such  is  the  number,  & 
more  especially  the  character  of  those  concerned  in  it,  that  I 
should  consider  myself  as  incurring  some  personal  hazard  if  I did 
not  know  that  you  heartily  abominate  the  odious  trade,  and  would 
make  no  disclosure  to  the  injury  of  one  who  would  only  wish  its 
complete  prevention.  I do  not  know  that  it  is  possible  to  effect 
this,  but  the  facts  in  relation  to  this  subject  can  be  considered  by 
those  capable  of  determining. 

Cargoes  suited  to  the  American  market  are  procured  here  & 
taken  on  board  vessels  suited  to  the  business  and  cleared  for  Ha- 
vana [sic].  The  Master  there  effects  a nominal  sale  of  vessels  & 
cargo  to  a Spaniard,  takes  on  board  a Spanish  nominal  Master 
& proceeds  to  Africa.  A power  of  Attorney  to  effect  the  sale  is 
always  prepared  here  before  sailing.  When  the  vessel  has  made 
one  voyage  she  can  proceed  on  another  without  returning  to  the 
U.  S.  A cargo  is  usually  sent  out  to  her  to  Havana.  There  are 
several  now  out  that  have  performed  several  voyages  since  they 
first  sailed  from  here.  There  is  one  now  laying  here  ready  for  sea 
called  “ The  General  Peace  of  Providence,”  lately  owned  wholly 
by  Joseph  Sanders  of  that  Place,  Thomas  H.  Russell  of  this  Town, 
Master  & Attorney  to  effect  the  pretended  sale.  I wrote  his 
Power  of  Attorney.  Bills  of  sale  of  parts  of  the  vessel  have  been 
given  here  : But  the  whole  is  to  be  covered  under  a Spanish  name. 
The  [sic]  even  speak  familiarly  of  their  destination,  & one  against 
whom  I had  a demand  boldly  told  me  I must  wait  till  he  could  go 
& catch  some  black-birds. 

By  such  stratagems  as  these,  hundreds  of  that  unhappy  race 
are  now  annually  torn  from  their  homes  and  doomed  with  all 
their  posterity  to  West  India  Slavery.  Can  the  Friends  of  hu- 
manity do  nothing  to  prevent  so  outrageous  an  evil  ? 

In  the  number  of  those  concerned  in  this  business  are  some  of 
my  personal  Friends,  and  many  from  [sic]  I derive  a portion 
of  my  business  & support.  My  feelings  revolt  from  the  idea  of 
inflicting  the  vengeance  of  the  law  on  the  first,  and  policy  (which 


COMMERCE  AND  MANUFACTURES  263 


cruise  along  the  Spanish  Main  to  the  distress  of 
gentle  Father  Fauque  of  Oyapoc,  there  was  with 
him  as  supercargo  Mark  Anthony  DeWolf,  a young 
man  of  Guadeloupe.  De  Wolf  married  Potter’s 
sister,  settled  at  Bristol,  and  became  the  father  of 
a famous  seafaring  progeny  — James,  Charles,  and 
John  De  Wolf.  James,  who  was  born  in  1764, 
achieved  in  the  early  years  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury great  wealth  in  the  slave  trade,  and  in  1820 
became  a United  States  senator.  Ten  of  the  fifty- 
nine  slavers  employed  by  Rhode  Island  between 
1804  and  1807  were  owned,  ship  and  cargo,  by 
James  De  Wolf.  Indeed,  as  between  Newport  and 
Bristol  during  this  interval,  honors  in  respect  to  the 
slave  traffic  were  almost  evenly  divided.  Seven 
thousand  nine  hundred  and  fifty-eight  negroes  were 
carried  to  Charleston  in  Rhode  Island  vessels.  Of 

circumstances  oblige  me  to  consult)  ought  to  restrain  me  from  an 
open  participation  in  the  punishment  of  the  others.  I think  if 
you  at  Providence  were  to  write  and  talk  more  on  the  subject,  to 
advertise  a determination  to  prosecute,  & thus  at  least  evince 
your  knowledge  of  the  existence  of  facts,  you  might  do  some 
good.  Humane  laws,  used  in  the  spirit  of  humanity,  ought  not  in 
their  execution  to  bring  disgrace  on  any  but  their  violators,  but 
such  is  the  depraved  judgment  of  the  multitude,  that  to  tell  of 
crimes  is  almost  as  odious  as  to  commit  them,  & I request  you 
not  to  disclose  that  any  of  the  facts  herein  stated  come  from  me. 

I am  Sir  — 

Your  Frd.  &c. 

[Signature  cut  out]. 

N.  B.  — Edward  Mason  of  your  Town  is  concerned  with 
Sanders. 

Pub.  R.  I.  Hist.  Soc.  vol.  vi,  p.  226. 


264 


RHODE  ISLAND 


these  nearly  3500  were  carried  in  vessels  from 
Newport,  and  about  3900  in  vessels  from  Bristol. 
Providence  vessels  carried  just  556. 

Newport  looked  back  with  longing  upon  the  slave 
trade.  It  also  looked  back  with  longing,  though  in 
less  degree,  upon  the  vanished  Mediterranean  and 
Levantine  trade  of  the  Hebrew  merchant  Abraham 
Rodriguez  Rivera.  This  trade,  or  rather  trade  of  a 
kind  akin  to  it,  was  now  to  be  undertaken  by  men 
who  were  not  only  residents  of  Newport  but  natives 
of  America  — Mr.  George  Gibbs  and  Mr.  W alter 
Channing,  constituting  the  firm  of  Gibbs  & Chan- 
ning,  and  Mr.  Christopher  Champlin  and  Mr. 
George  Champlin,  constituting  the  firm  of  Cham- 
plin & Champlin.  Between  1790  and  1812  both 
houses  dealt  largely  to  Sweden  and  St.  Petersburg 
for  iron ; to  Java  for  coffee ; to  Canton  for  teas, 
nankeens,  and  silks  ; and  to  Antwerp,  Malaga,  Bar- 
celona, and  Leghorn  for  miscellaneous  commodities. 
In  1810  the  tonnage  of  Newport  was  12,517,  only 
3347  less  than  that  of  Providence.  At  this  period, 
too,  the  trades  of  ship-building  and  whale-catch- 
ing had  been  much  revived.  A leading  position 
with  regard  to  both  was  taken  by  the  town  of 
Warren. 

For  the  commercial  decline  of  Newport,  as  also 
for  that  of  Bristol  and  Warren,  there  may  be  as- 
signed four  general  causes:  foreign  interference 
(after  1793)  with  American  ships;  the  American 
Embargo  Acts  of  the  years  1807  and  1809;  the 


COMMERCE  AND  MANUFACTURES  265 


War  of  1812;  and  the  introduction  of  railroads. 
Providence  felt  the  operation  of  the  same  causes, 
but  was  able  to  betake  itself  to  manufactures.  To 
Newport  no  such  course  was  open.  There  was  on 
the  island  of  Rhode  Island  no  brawling  Blackstone 
nor  swift  Pawtuxet  — in  a word,  no  water-power ; 
and  when  the  sea  as  a field  of  activity  failed  the 
islanders,  naught  was  left  them  but  to  quit  for- 
ever the  spot  of  their  affections,  or,  putting  their 
savings  at  interest,  to  live  in  the  memory  of  the 
stirring  past. 

Newport  had  early  been  the  resort  of  wealthy 
English  planters  of  the  West  Indies  and  Carolinas 
— the  Redwoods,  the  Pinckneys,  the  Rutledges, 
and  the  Haynes.  After  1840  it  became  increasingly 
the  resort  of  the  people  of  Charleston.  Its  attrac- 
tions were  its  salubrious  climate,  the  wide  ocean 
prospect  from  its  cliffs,  and  its  extensive  bathing 
beaches.  Then,  too,  there  was  about  it  a delightful 
historic  afterglow.  Nobody  there  was  very  busy 
now.  The  shipping  — huge  East  Indiaman  and 
small  trim  slaver  — had  disappeared.  The  wharves 
and  slave-pens  were  falling  to  decay.  No  Red 
Rover  lay  mysterious  in  the  outer  harbor.  But 
local  circles  were  charged  with  anecdotes  of  many 
a slaver  and  many  a rover  ; and  the  local  spinster, 
proud  of  the  claims  of  long  descent,  was  proud 
also  to  produce  for  the  benefit  of  those  sufficiently 
accredited  the  heirloom  London  gown,  the  heir- 
loom invitation  to  the  Washington-Rochambeau 


266 


RHODE  ISLAND 


ball,  or  the  beirloom  set  of  priceless  “ china  ” from 
Canton. 

Nor  yet  in  other  ways  did  latter-day  Newport 
fail  in  suggestiveness.  The  gentle  and  flower-like 
genius  of  Edward  G.  Malbone  — a natural  son  of 
John  Malbone  the  merchant  magnate  — served  to 
re-create  a Berkeley  an  atmosphere  in  art.  Born  in 
1777,  Malbone  painted  miniature  portraits  un- 
matched for  loveliness,  and  died  at  the  age  of 
thirty.  But  in  no  son  of  Newport,  perhaps  — 
whether  of  a latter  day  or  a former  — was  the 
Berkeleyan  or  idealistic  element  fundamental  in 
Rhode  Island  character  brought  to  such  perfection 
as  in  William  Ellery  Channing.  On  the  9th  of 
May,  1773,  Dr.  Ezra  Stiles  made  entry  in  his 
diary:  “In  the  eveng  I married  Mr.  William 
Channing  and  Miss  Lucy  Ellery.”  William  Ellery 
Channing  was  a fruit  of  this  union.  He  opposed 
slavery  and  forecast  Transcendentalism.  His  death 
occurred  in  1842.  After  1840  — the  era  of  rail- 
roads — Newport,  and  with  it  Rhode  Island  at 
large  in  so  far  as  the  latter  depended  upon  the  sea, 
became  an  American  Venice.  It  could  only  look 
forth  helpless  upon  that  element  which  erstwhile  it 
had  been  its  mission  to  subdue. 

It  has  been  said  that  Providence  at  the  close  of  the 
Revolution  glanced  forward  as  well  as  backward. 
Its  first  vigorous  glance  was  unmistakably  forward. 

On  December  2,  1789,  nearly  six  months  before 


COMMERCE  AND  MANUFACTURES  267 


Rhode  Island  ratified  the  Federal  Constitution, 
Samuel  Slater,  a young  Englishman  of  Derbyshire 
who  had  been  attracted  to  America  by  a prospect 
of  advancement  in  connection  with  the  manufac- 
ture of  cotton  yarn,  wrote  thus  to  Moses  Brown : 
“ A few  days  ago  I was  informed  that  you  wanted 
a manager  of  cotton  spinning,  &c.,  in  which  busi- 
ness I flatter  myself  that  I can  give  the  greatest 
satisfaction,  in  making  machinery,  making  good 
yarn,  either  for  stockings  or  twist,  as  any  that  is 
made  in  England ; as  I have  had  opportunity  and 
an  oversight,  of  Sir  Richard  Arkwright’s  works 
and  in  Mr.  Strutt’s  mill  upwards  of  eight  years.” 
When  this  letter  was  received,  Brown  (the  finan- 
cial stay  of  the  firm  of  Alray  & Brown)  had  for 
some  time  been  struggling  at  Pawtucket  with  im- 
perfect imitations  of  the  Arkwright  patents.  “ If 
thou  thought,”  he  at  once  replied  to  Slater,  “ thou 
couldst  perfect  the  machines  and  conduct  them  to 
profit,  if  thou  wilt  come  and  do  it,  thou  shalt  have 
all  the  profits  made  of  them  over  and  above  the 
interest  of  the  money  they  cost  and  the  wear  and 
tear  of  them.”  Slater  came,  and  his  triumph  will 
ere  long  engage  our  attention.  Meanwhile  a word 
regarding  that  upon  which  Providence  in  common 
with  Newport  was  casting  backward  glance  — com- 
merce. 

In  this  domain  it  is  our  acquaintance  John  Brown 
— the  brother  of  Moses  — that  bespeaks  attention. 
No  whit  less  restive  now  was  John  than  when  we 


268 


RHODE  ISLAND 


beheld  him  upbraiding  Sullivan  (through  Greene) 
for  the  failure  of  the  Franco- American  movement 
against  the  British  under  Pigot.  One  of  the  few 
Providence  merchants  to  reenter  the  slave  trade,  he 
was  a member  of  the  General  Assembly  in  March, 
1784,  when  the  emancipation  bill  was  passed ; and 
although  instructed  by  the  Providence  town  meet- 
ing to  support  the  measure,  he  made  over  it  a very 
wry  face  indeed.  A “ shaller  policy,”  he  stigmatized 
it,  to  prohibit  slave  holding  or  to  interfere  with  the 
lucrative  business  of  slave  trading.  His  course  on 
slavery,  like  his  course  in  relation  to  the  Continen- 
tal frigates  and  in  denunciation  of  Sullivan,  was 
but  a variation  at  considerable  moral  cost  upon 
the  precept,  “ Put  money  in  thy  purse.”  It  is  true 
that  in  1787  we  find  him  (under  the  spur  of  a 
desire  to  enlist  in  a commercial  venture  the  capital 
of  his  brother  Moses)  actually  proposing  to  quit 
the  “ Giney  ” trade,  and  urging  Moses  to  enter 
the  General  Assembly,  where  he  could  work  for  the 
suppression  of  slavery.  But  in  1797  he  became 
the  object  of  a legal  prosecution  at  the  hands  of 
Caleb  Greene  of  Newport  for  participation  in  this 
very  trade  to  Guinea.  The  same  year  he  wrote  to 
Greene  begging  him  to  desist  from  the  suit  for  the 
reason  that  “ he  had  done  with  the  trade  now ; ” 
yet  in  1799,  as  a member  of  the  lower  house  of 
Congress,  he  did  not  scruple  to  proclaim  from  his 
seat  that  all  the  existing  legislation  against  slavery 
should  be  repealed;  “for  why,”  he  asked,  “should 


COMMERCE  AND  MANUFACTURES  269 


we  see  Great  Britain  getting  all  the  slave  trade  to 
themselves  ? ” 

The  commercial  venture  of  1787  in  which  John 
Brown  endeavored  to  enlist  the  support  of  Moses 
Brown  was  a voyage  to  the  East  Indies.  The  idea 
was  a bold  one.  It  was  only  since  1783  that  the 
mariners  of  Salem,  Massachusetts,  following  a lure 
which  had  enthralled  Marco  Polo,  Columbus,  and 
Da  Gama,  had  adventured  to  the  Orient;  but 
Brown,  as  the  affair  of  the  Gaspee  had  shown,  was 
nothing  if  not  bold.  Besides  (and  this  perhaps  was 
the  main  consideration)  the  slave  trade  was  now  so 
obstructed  by  local  penal  legislation,  and  the  West 
India  trade  by  British  restrictions,  that  a depar- 
ture in  commerce  had  become  almost  a necessity. 

As  far  back  as  1782  the  historic  house  of  Nicho- 
las Brown  & Company  had  been  dissolved,  and  in 
its  stead  there  had  arisen  under  Nicholas  Brown 
the  house  of  Brown  & Benson,  and  under  John 
Brown  the  house  of  Brown  & Francis.  Between 
1787  and  1807  the  latter  house,  which  owned  its 
own  docks  and  yards  and  built  its  own  ships,  em- 
ployed in  the  East  India  trade  four  vessels,  — the 
General  Washington,  the  Warren,  the  President 
Washington,  and  the  George  Washington.  Of 
these  the  largest  was  the  President  Washington 
(950  tons),  and  all  were  uniformly  successful  in 
their  voyages.  Outward  bound,  they  made  the 
ports  of  Madeira,  Calcutta,  Madras,  Batavia,  Pon- 
dicherry, and  Canton.  Returning,  they  touched 


270 


RHODE  ISLAND 


at  St.  Helena,  St.  Ascension,  and  St.  Eustatia. 
Their  cargoes  of  anchors,  cordage,  cannon  and 
shot,  bar  iron,  Narragansett  cheese,  spermaceti 
candles,  wine,  brandy,  spirits,  and  rum  were  ex- 
changed for  tea,  silks,  “ china,”  cotton  goods, 
lacquered  ware,  cloves,  and  flannels,  and  the  pro- 
fits earned  cast  those  even  of  slave-trading  into 
the  background. 

In  1794  Brown  & Benson  (now  Brown,  Benson 
& Ives),  stimulated  by  the  success  of  Brown  & 
Francis,  determined  likewise  to  adventure  in  the 
East.  They  sent  out  (respectively  in  1794  and 
1798)  two  notable  ships,  the  John  Jay  and  the 
Ann  and  Hope.  Both  made  successful  voyages, 
but  both  alike  (in  strong  contrast  to  the  vessels 
of  Brown  & Francis)  led  checkered  careers  end- 
ing in  disaster.  The  J ohn  J ay  on  her  first  voyage 
(to  Bombay  and  Canton)  was  caught  in  a mon- 
soon and  lost  nearly  all  her  masts  and  all  her 
sails  and  spars.  She  furthermore  was  scourged  by 
small-pox  and  narrowly  escaped  seizure  by  pirates 
in  the  China  seas.  When  finally,  in  1796,  she  got 
home  she  brought  with  her,  besides  560,000  pounds 
of  tea,  such  articles  of  interest  as  silks  (13  boxes 
and  14  pieces),  umbrellas  (2  boxes  and  64  single 
umbrellas),  china-ware  (138  boxes),  fans  (3  boxes), 
quicksilver  (2  tubs),  sugar  candy  (2  tubs),  pre- 
served fruits  (4  tubs),  ostrich  feathers  (610),  rat- 
tans and  canes  (1800),  one  bundle  of  window 
screens,  one  backgammon  board,  and  what  not. 


COMMERCE  AND  MANUFACTURES  271 


The  John  Jay  in  1806  was  captured  by  a British 
sloop-of-war,  and  in  order  to  effect  her  release  it 
became  necessary  to  appeal  to  the  High  Court  of 
Admiralty.  In  1807  she  struck  a reef  off  Pigeon 
Island  (near  Java)  and  went  to  pieces. 

As  for  the  Ann  and  Hope,  her  career  was  varied 
in  the  extreme.  She  was  a fast  ship,  and  carried 
a good  armament.  In  1798  she  sailed  for  Canton. 
She  stopped  at  Sydney,  Australia,  and  afterwards 
at  the  uninhabited  island  of  Tinian.  Here  there 
was  discovered,  wildly  pacing  the  sands,  a Lascar 
(East  India  sailor)  who  had  been  cast  away  in 
a brig  manned  by  whites  and  East  Indians.  The 
whites  had  been  rescued  by  a passing  vessel,  but 
the  Lascars  had  been  left  to  their  fate.  At  length 
a Spanish  slave  ship  had  touched  at  the  island. 
By  this  craft  the  Lascars  (all  save  the  narrator) 
had  been  carried  away  in  irons.  The  narrator  had 
escaped  by  concealing  himself  in  the  woods.  Sub- 
sisting on  oranges, "cherries,  plums,  and  cocoanuts, 
— products  of  the  spot,  — he  had  passed  his  time 
in  solitude  and  tears,  watching  for  a sail.  A man 
not  without  parts  was  this  Robinson  Crusoe  of 
the  Orient,  for  he  spoke  English,  French,  Spanish, 
Portuguese,  and  Malay.  He  was  taken  to  Macao, 
whence  he  could  ship  readily  for  Bengal.  On  the 
same  voyage  the  Ann  and  Hope  fell  in  with  a 
French  privateer,  which  gave  her  chase  and  fired 
three  shots  at  her.  These  were  returned  with  em- 
phasis, and  the  privateer  drew  off.  In  1806,  on  a 


272 


RHODE  ISLAND 


return  voyage  from  tlie  East,  the  vessel,  together 
with  her  cargo,  was  lost  on  Block  Island. 

Commodities  imported  from  the  East  Indies 
into  Providence  in  1795  were  valued  at  $311,910 ; 
in  1800  at  $726,924 ; in  1804  at  $887,000 ; in 
1806  (the  year  of  the  loss  of  the  Ann  and  Hope) 
at  $662,200.  The  trade  lasted  until  1841,  but  its 
heyday  was  over  by  1807.1 

The  trade  of  Rhode  Island  with  the  East  was 
free  from  the  peculiar  embarrassments  that  beset 
the  slave  trade  and  the  West  India  trade,  but 
it  suffered  from  others  common  at  the  time  to 
American  trade  everywhere.  John  Brown  died  in 
1803,  and  before  his  death  the  embarrassments 
spoken  of  had  become  serious.  Among  them  after 

1 The  registered  tonnage  of  the  United  States  calculated  on  an 
average  of  ten  years,  1800-1809,  was  held  in  the  following  ratio 
compared  to  population : — 


Seybert,  p.  308. 

Quoted  by  Dr.  William  Jones  in  his  Transition  of  Providence 
from  a Commercial  to  a Manufacturing  Community. 


New  Hampshire  0.09  tons  to  the  inhabitant. 


Vermont 
Massachusetts 
Rhode  Island 
Connecticut 
New  York 
New  Jersey 
Pennsylvania 
Delaware 
Maryland 
Virginia 
North  Carolina 
South  Carolina 
Georgia 


.001  tons  to  the  inhabitant. 
.37  tons  to  the  inhabitant. 
.19  tons  to  the  inhabitant. 
.10  tons  to  the  inhabitant. 
.13  tons  to  the  inhabitant. 
.01  tons  to  the  inhabitant. 
.10  tons  to  the  inhabitant. 
.02  tons  to  the  inhabitant. 
.17  tons  to  the  inhabitant. 
.03  tons  to  the  inhabitant. 
.03  tons  to  the  inhabitant. 
.09  tons  to  the  inhabitant. 
.03  tons  to  the  inhabitant. 


COMMERCE  AND  MANUFACTURES  273 


1793  was  (as  has  been  said)  interference  by  for- 
eign powers.  Interference  was  of  two  kinds  — 
depredations  by  Barbary  pirates  and  seizures  by 
the  British  and  French  (then  at  war)  under  the 
orders  and  decrees  of  their  respective  governments 
with  regard  to  neutrals. 

The  Barbary  pirates  were  the  same  marauding 
race  that  in  1680  had  taken  captive  William  Har- 
ris, the  antagonist  of  Roger  Williams.  European 
States  had  long  been  paying  them  tribute,  and 
since  1785  tribute  had  been  accumulating  against 
the  United  States.  It  had  not  sooner  been  col- 
lected, because  hitherto  the  Algerians  and  Tuni- 
sians had  been  confined  by  Portugal  within  the 
Straits  of  Gibraltar  and  so  had  been  unable  to 
lay  hands  upon  American  ships.  In  1793,  through 
British  contrivance,  the  Portuguese  blockade  was 
suspended  for  a twelvemonth  and  the  pirates 
flocked  out  into  the  Atlantic.  In  one  cruise  they 
captured  ten  American  merchantmen  and  enslaved 
one  hundred  and  five  citizens. 

The  news  when  received  at  Providence  caused 
the  greatest  concern.  Theodore  Foster,  one  of  the 
United  States  senators  from  Rhode  Island,  was 
beset  with  requests  to  make  known  what  Congress 
would  do.  “We  can’t  send  out  a ship,”  wrote 
Welcome  Arnold  in  January,  1794,  “without  stip- 
ulating to  redeem  the  seamen  from  the  Algerines. 
Will  Congress  set  about  building  a navy  imme- 
diately? ...  If  Congress  must  buy  peace  it  can 


On  the  4 th 


reohe  islaxt* 


- TV- 


€£.  X 


jyr  the  town  at  Wi-ei.  WT in  fiTTOTTWartit. 
iclr  fa  i rtfco  ight  i^:.g  to  be  given  a chance 

to  K— ' hi  some  of  tie  ships  for  the  projected  navy. 
On  Febnaj  IS  George  Benscn.  of  the  Loose  of 
Brown  i:  Benson.  io^oired  in  liurclr  : ~ VV  nj  is 
there  no  decision  on  die  prot >osai  to  equip  a srrU" 
heet  ’ The  season  for  exiting  ship-timber  is  fast 
erasing,  and  we  Lean  by  an  arrival  from  Sooth 
Carolina  that  a vessel  frou  Gibraltar  brings  an- 

rehtirr.g  aad  aetnally  near*  to  c mi  nr  on  oor  coast 
i£x:  rzn^l  Letters  lie  the  foregoing  were 
productive  of  results.  On  March  IT.  1714.  Con- 
gress ordered  sin  frizzes  to  be  hub  — amonz: 


p^=a 

05  I — 

to  &e 

- 

U^rZ’dL- 

mac. 

j6  town,  of  Warren,  none  wa*  ordered 
in  Rhode  Island.  yet  the  State  was  not 
to  go  unrecognized-  In  June.  17114 
Silas  Talbot.  the  hero  of  the  capture  of  the  Pigot 
gnLey.  was  appointed  one  of  six  new  naval  cap 


?loh  Islnnl  hnht  neither  the  Constittrhon.  the 
President,  the  United  States,  the  Chesapeake, 
the  Congress.  nor  the  Constellation : in  1T9S. 
however.  the  Federal  government  pnrchased  from 
John  Brown  the  T-  i:A?r.ar  George  Washington. 

tnis  vessel 


atmz 


tmder  Capcain  Bainhriige  was  sent  to  Algiers 
as  hearer  of  tribute  to  the  Dey.  The  story  how 


COMMERCE  AND  MAX UT AC TU RES 


275 


the  George  Washington,  as  the  ship  of  a tributary 
nation,  was  compelled  to  carry  a party  of  two  hun- 
dred Algerine  envoys  to  Constantinople  that  they 
in  turn  might  render  tribute  to  the  Sublime  Porte, 
is  interesting,  but  cannot  here  be  repeated.  Suf- 
fice it  to  say,  that  soon  after  the  return  of  the  ship 
to  the  United  States,  there  came  an  end  to  tribute 
— an  end  which  Stephen  Decatur,  son  and  grand- 
son of  a Decatur  of  Newport,  did  not  a little  to 
bring  about. 

Toward  the  War  of  1812  — a contest  for  com- 
mercial rights  forced  upon  America  by  the  Anglo- 
French  wars  which  had  begun  in  1793  — the  atti- 
tude of  Ehode  Island  was  peculiar.  Its  seamen 
ever  and  anon  were  impressed,1  and  between  1804 
and  1807  its  ships  suffered  from  the  British  orders- 
in-council.  But  the  J effersonian  embargo,  imposed 
in  1807,  proved  more  destructive  to  its  interests 
than  impressment  and  orders-in-coimcil  combined. 
The  measure  gave  a foretaste  of  absolute  cessation 

1 In  May.  1794,  the  British  man-of-war  Nautilus  put  into  New- 
port Harbor  for  supplies.  It  became  known  that  there  were  on 
board  the  vessel  a number  of  impressed  American  seamen.  The 
General  Assembly  thereupon  detained  the  captain  i Boynton)  and 
his  first  lieutenant  nnril  a search  could  be  made.  As  a result  of 
the  search,  six  men  were  found  who  claimed  to  be  American  citi- 
zens : one  from  Martha's  Vineyard  : one  from  Charleston : one 
from  Boston:  one  from  Georgetown.  S.  C. : one  from  Portsmouth. 
Ya. ; and  one  from  New  York.  All  were  liberated.  This  prob- 
ably is  the  earliest  case  of  resistance  by  an  American  govern- 
ment to  the  British  claim  of  right  of  impressment.  S.  S.  Rider. 
Book  Notes.  toL  i. 


276 


RHODE  ISLAND 


of  trade  with  Great  Britain.  When,  therefore,  in 
1812  war  with  Great  Britain  was  declared,  Rhode 
Island  was  emphatic  in  protest.  The  General  As- 
sembly denounced  a resort  to  arms ; the  town  of 
Providence  tolled  its  bells  and  lowered  its  flags 
to  half-mast ; Napoleon  Bonaparte  was  denomi- 
nated an  “atrocious  murderer  and  incendiary,”  and 
Great  Britain  was  lauded  as  an  “ oppressed  nation 
gloriously  struggling  for  the  preservation  of  its 
liberties.”  These  utterances  were  supplemented 
by  others  more  specific.  In  1818  Governor  Wil- 
liam Jones  denied  the  right  of  the  president  to 
summon  the  militia  out  of  the  State,  and  in  1814 
the  same  official  gave  warning  that  “ notwithstand- 
ing our  respect  for  the  law  and  our  strong  attach- 
ment to  the  union  of  the  States,  there  may  be  evils 
greater  than  can  be  apprehended  from  a refusal 
to  submit  to  unconstitutional  laws.”  After  such 
an  assertion  of  particularism  as  this  the  State  was 
ready  for  the  Hartford  Convention,  the  initial  step 
toward  which  it  took,  and  the  sessions  of  which  it 
honored  with  four  delegates. 

Rhode  Island,  although  refusing  to  sanction  the 
War  of  1812,  furnished  in  the  person  of  Oliver 
Hazard  Perry  of  South  Kingstown  the  most  pictur- 
esque naval  hero  of  the  conflict.  In  1775  James 
Wallace,  captain  of  the  British  frigate  Rose,  had 
written  to  Abraham  Whipple:  “You,  Abraham 
Whipple,  on  the  10th  June,  1772,  burned  his  Majes- 
ty’s vessel,  the  Gaspee,  and  I will  hang  you  at  the 


COMMERCE  AND  MANUFACTURES  277 


yard-arm,”  whereupon  Whipple  had  replied  : “ Sir, 
always  catch  a man  before  you  hang  him.”  Perry 
thus  had  before  him  a model  of  the  epigrammatic 
in  a naval  dispatch,  when,  on  September  10,  1813, 
he  wrote  : “We  have  met  the  enemy  and  they  are 
ours.”  Another  Rhode  Island  figure  of  interest  in 
connection  with  the  War  of  1812  was  James  De 
Wolf  the  slave  trader  of  Bristol.  In  1812  De 
Wolf  put  in  commission  the  privateer  Yankee. 
The  vessel  in  three  and  one  half  years  made  six 
cruises,  captured  in  all  forty  prizes,  destroyed 
British  property  to  the  value  of  five  millions  of  dol- 
lars, and  sent  into  Bristol  a million  dollars’  worth 
of  goods.  On  the  fifth  cruise  alone  the  profits  were 
so  great  that  the  two  negro  cabin  waiters,  Cuffee 
Cockroach  and  Jack  Jibsheet,  received  respectively 
eleven  hundred  and  twenty-one  dollars  and  eighty- 
eight  bents,  and  seven  hundred  and  thirty-eight 
dollars  and  nineteen  cents. 

It  remains  for  us  to  follow  the  fortunes  of  Sam- 
uel Slater.  On  reaching  Pawtucket  Slater  did  three 
things : he  secured  lodgings  at  the  house  of  the 
Quaker  machinist,  Oziel  Wilkinson  ; he  fell  deeply 
in  love  with  Wilkinson’s  daughter,  the  laughing- 
eyed Hannah  ; and  he  inspected  carefully  the  spin- 
ning appliances  of  the  factory  operated  by  Almy 
& Brown.  The  appliances  he  pronounced  worth- 
less, and  he  at  once  set  to  work  to  replace  them  by 
a full  set  of  machines  constructed  after  the  Ark- 


278 


RHODE  ISLAND 


wright  designs.  Models  he  had  none,  nor  even 
drawings,  for  the  exportation  of  these  things  from 
England  was  forbidden  under  heavy  penalties. 
But  he  was  able  to  make  drawings  from  memory, 
and  by  the  aid  of  them  models  were  constructed. 
On  December  20,  1790,  the  Almy  & Brown  fac- 
tory was  newly  equipped  and  ready  to  start. 

By  reason  of  improved  machinery,  masterly  su- 
perintendence, and  ample  capital,  the  firm  of 
Almy  & Brown  was  successful  in  producing  cot- 
ton yarn.  As  late,  however,  as  1803  it  was  the 
only  successful  cotton  firm  in  New  England.  In 
all  the  country  besides  there  was  but  one  other 
cotton  firm  and  that  soon  failed.  What  was  needed 
to  establish  the  industry  of  cotton  manufacturing 
in  America  was  protection  against  English  goods, 
and  this  came  unbidden  and  unwelcome  with  the 
embargo  of  1807  and  the  War  of  1812.  The  dis- 
turbances which  were  wrecking  commerce  — carry- 
ing Newport  down  to  commercial  death  and  sadly 
injuring  commercial  Providence  — disturbances 
which  a Providence  town  meeting  on  January  28, 
1809,  denounced  as  subversive  of  the  natural  right 
of  navigating  the  ocean  — these  disturbances,  un- 
known to  Rhode  Island,  were  preparing  the  way 
for  its  greatest  prosperity. 

Within  thirty  miles  of  Providence  in  1805  there 
were  five  small  cotton  factories  operating  4000 
spindles.  In  1815,  within  the  same  radius,  there 
were  171  factories  employing  26,000  workmen, 


COMMERCE  AND  MANUFACTURES  279 


operating  134,588  spindles,  and  consuming  annu- 
ally 29,000  bales  of  cotton  in  the  production  of 
27,840,000  yards  of  cloth.  The  cessation  of  the 
war  brought  with  it  the  removal  of  barriers  to 
foreign  trade  and  an  influx  of  English  and  India 
cotton  goods  with  a lowering  of  prices.  There- 
upon Rhode  Island  cast  in  its  lot  definitely  with 
those  demanding  a national  protective  system  and 
supported  the  tariff  of  1816. 

To  provide  the  capital  for  the  operating  of  fac- 
tories, banks  early  became  indispensable.  Between 
1817  and  1819  such  institutions  increased  from 
seventeen  to  thirty.  To  connect  the  numerous 
small  mill  villages  with  Providence  — their  en- 
trepot and  their  depot  — good  roads  early  were 
required.  Between  1803  and  1842  thirty-six  turn- 
pike companies  were  incorporated.  Mill  employees 
were  growing  in  number,  and  the  problem  of 
education  arose.  It  was  met  in  part  in  1796  by 
Samuel  Slater.  He  established  at  Pawtucket  a 
Sunday-school  at  which  there  were  taught  the 
rudiments  of  knowledge.  His  efforts  were  supple- 
mented by  those  of  John  Howland  at  Providence, 
who  as  a barber  was  a member  of  the  Association 
of  Mechanics  and  Manufactures,  a society  organ- 
ized in  1789.  By  the  energy  of  Howland  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  in  1800  was  led  to  pass  an  act 
creating  free  schools.  The  act  was  repealed  in 
1803,  and  no  other  was  passed  until  1828. 

In  illustration  of  the  transition  in  Rhode  Island 


280 


RHODE  ISLAND 


from  commerce  to  manufactures  there  may  be 
cited  the  case  of  the  great  commercial  house  of 
Brown  & Ives,  formerly  Brown,  Benson  & Ives. 
As  late  as  1828  this  house  was  commercial,  al- 
though manufactures  largely  concerned  it.  To 
guard  its  commercial  interests  it  joined  in  a peti- 
tion to  Congress  against  the  tariff  of  1828,  a mea- 
sure which  bore  heavily  on  hemp,  sail-cloth,  iron, 
and  molasses.  But  in  1834  Edward  Carrington, 
Wilbur  Kelley,  Nicholas  Brown,  Thomas  P.  Ives, 
Moses  Brown  Ives,  John  Carter  Brown,  and  Rob- 
ert H.  Ives  formed  the  Lonsdale  Cotton  Company, 
and  soon  afterwards  the  house  which  had  sent  forth 
the  John  Jay  and  the  Ann  and  Hope  sold  its  last 
ship  and  ceased  to  tempt  fortune  on  the  sea. 

Commerce  in  Rhode  Island  having  been  sup- 
planted, the  fact  was  not  long  in  pointedly  disclosing 
itself.  The  magnate  now  was  no  Wanton  (Wil- 
liam or  J ohn)  or  Godfrey  Malbone  eking  out  priva- 
teering with  mercantile  adventuring.  The  magnate 
of  this  order  had  been  swept  as  ruthlessly  into  the 
realm  of  anecdote  as  earlier  had  been  swept  into 
the  same  realm  the  William  Harrises,  the  William 
Coddingtons,  and  the  William  Brentons  of  the 
order  of  agriculture.  Now  the  magnate  was  a less 
picturesque  but  more  ample  and  utilitarian  figure 
— the  cotton-mill  owner.  Such  was  William 
Sprague  the  son  of  the  founder  of  the  family  of 
Sprague,  and  such  was  William  Sprague  the  grand- 
son. Under  the  firm  name  of  “ A.  & W.  Sprague,” 


COMMERCE  AND  MANUFACTURES  281 


the  Spragues  junior  owned  and  administered  pos- 
sessions princely  in  extent  and  magnitude  in  the 
valley  of  the  Pawtuxet.  William,  the  son  of  the 
founder,  became  governor  of  Rhode  Island  in  1838 
and  United  States  senator  in  1842.  William, 
nephew  to  the  latter,  became  governor  in  1860  and 
United  States  senator  in  1863. 

The  period  of  fifty  years  dealt  with  in  the  pre- 
sent chapter  is  noteworthy  in  Rhode  Island  history 
for  the  gubernatorial  administrations  of  Arthur 
and  James  Fenner,  father  and  son.  Arthur  held 
office  continuously  from  1790  to  1805,  and  James 
continuously  from  1807  to  1811 ; an  interval  as  a 
whole  comparable  with  that  during  which  Samuel 
Cranston  held  the  same  office  a century  earlier, 
or  with  that  during  which  the  office  was  held  by 
various  members  of  the  Wanton  family.  The  Fen- 
ner administrations  were  coincident  largely  with 
the  administrations  "Of  Washington,1  Adams,  Jef- 

1 The  topics  of  national  politics  which  were  of  special  interest 
to  Rhode  Islanders  at  this  time  were  the  location  of  the  national 
capital  and  the  assumption  of  the  State  debts.  Of  almost  equal 
interest  was  the  matter  of  appointments  to  Federal  office.  Wash- 
ington, who  in  the  other  States  ignored  party  considerations,  in 
Rhode  Island  (because  of  the  obstinacy  of  that  commonwealth  in 
withstanding  the  Union)  paid  attention  to  them.  Arthur  Fenner, 
Jabez  Bowen,  Henry  Marchant,  William  Ellery,  John  Collins, 
William  Channing,  John  Carter,  and  many  others  were  appli- 
cants for  favors.  — J.  F.  Jameson,  The  Adjustment  of  Rhode 
Island  into  the  Union  in  1790,”  Pub.  B.  I.  Hist.  Soc.  vol.  viii ; 
Gaillard  Hunt,  “ Office  Seeking  during  Washington’s  Adminis- 
tration,” Am.  Hist.  Bev.  vol.  i. 


282 


RHODE  ISLAND 


ferson,  and  Madison.  Under  Washington  and 
Adams  Rhode  Island  was  Federalist.  The  treaty 
of  Jay  with  England  and  the  resistance  to  French 
spoliations  were  favorable  to  the  interests  of  the 
State  as  a commercial  community.  Under  Jeffer- 
son the  Republicans  gained  control,  but  under 
Madison  they  lost  it  because  of  their  advocacy  of 
the  War  of  1812.  After  the  rise  and  development 
of  the  protective  tariff  issue  the  State  became 
Whig. 

But  not  thus  alone  is  our  period  one  of  note.  In 
1790  the  Providence  Society  for  Promoting  the 
Abolition  of  Slavery  was  chartered.  In  1799  reso- 
lutions were  passed  by  the  General  Assembly  con- 
demning the  Virginia  and  Kentucky  Nullification 
Resolutions.  In  1822  the  Rhode  Island  Historical 
Society  was  founded.  Between  1831  and  1837 
there  took  place  an  anti-Masonic  agitation,  and 
in  1835  the  Boston  and  Providence  Railroad  was 
opened. 

The  Abolition  Society  of  1790  owed  its  existence 
to  Moses  Brown  and  “ College  Tom  ” Hazard  of 
South  Kingstown  ; but  associated  with  these  lead- 
ers were  David  Howell,  Arthur  Fenner,  and 
Samuel  Hopkins;  and  Jonathan  Edwards  was 
associated  by  correspondence.  Over  the  anti-Nul- 
lification  resolutions  of  1799  one  pauses  amazed  at 
the  irony  of  Time  in  his  revenges.  In  1798  Vir- 
ginia had  declared : “ In  case  of  a deliberate,  palpable 
and  dangerous  exercise  of  . . . powers  not  granted 


COMMERCE  AND  MANUFACTURES  283 


[to  the  Federal  government] , the  States  . . . have 
the  right  and  are  in  duty  bound  to  interpose  for 
arresting  the  progress  of  the  evil.”  In  1815  Rhode 
Island,  through  its  governor  (William  Jones), 
indorsed  the  report  of  the  Hartford  Convention, 
a report  which  said  : “ In  cases  of  deliberate,  dan- 
gerous, and  palpable  infractions  of  the  Constitution, 
affecting  the  sovereignty  of  a State  and  the  liber- 
ties of  the  people,  it  is  not  only  the  right  but  the 
duty  of  such  State  to  interpose  its  authority.  . . . 
When  emergencies  occur  which  are  either  beyond 
the  reach  of  the  judicial  tribunals,  or  too  pressing 
to  admit  of  the  delay  incident  to  their  forms, 
States  which  have  no  common  umpire  must  be 
their  own  judges  and  execute  their  own  decisions.” 
With  the  mention  of  some  interesting  names  the 
present  chapter  may  be  dismissed.  Between  1787 
and  1824  Rhode  Island  was  visited  by  the  travelers 
J.  Hector  St.  J ohn  de  Crevecoeur,  J.  P.  Brissot  de 
Warville,  and  the  Due  de  La  Rochefoucauld-Lian- 
court ; and  by  the  statesmen  Talleyrand  and  the 
Marquis  de  Lafayette.  Talleyrand  came  in  1794, 
and  he  alighted  at  Newport.  He  tarried  several 
weeks,  received  no  letters,  asked  no  questions,  paid 
his  reckoning  and  went  his  way.  Why  had  he  come  ? 
Mr.  George  Champlin  Mason,  writing  in  1884,  con- 
jectured that  Talleyrand’s  “ Memoirs  ” when  printed 
might  solve  the  little  mystery.  The  “ Memoirs  ” at 
length  have  been  printed.  Is  the  mystery  solved? 
As  for  the  Marquis  de  Lafayette,  his  coming, 


284 


RHODE  ISLAND 


which  made  memorable  the  year  1824,  was  to  renew 
associations  of  the  time  of  D’Estaing.  Nor  are  the 
names  here  to  be  mentioned  exclusively  foreign. 
They  include  Elisha  Potter  and  Benjamin  Hazard, 
members  of  the  General  Assembly,  and  Tristam 
Burges,  the  “ bald  eagle  ” of  the  national  House  of 
Representatives.  Pitted  in  many  a contest  against 
John  Randolph  of  Roanoke,  Burges  proved  himself 
a doughty  defender  of  Rhode  Island’s  bulwark,  the 
protective  tariff  system. 

Yet  of  all  the  names  of  our  period  those  which 
chiefly  are  of  interest  are  John  and  Moses  Brown. 
John  established  trade  with  the  Orient.  Moses 
established  the  spinning  of  cotton  yarn. 


CHAPTER  XIV 


THE  DORR  REBELLION 

Suffrage  and  Representation  — Thomas  W.  Dorr  — Rival  Conven- 
tions and  Governments  — Dorr  the  Fanatic  — Luther  vs.  Borden 
— National  Party  Politics. 

Originally  in  the  four  Rhode  Island  towns  the 
suffrage  was  coupled  with  the  freehold.  The  ad- 
justment was  agricultural,  and  so  long  as  the  towns 
remained  agricultural  it  was  natural.  When,  how- 
ever, Rhode  Island  life  expanded,  when  to  agri- 
culture there  was  added  commerce,  and  when  to 
commerce  there  were  added  manufactures,  a read- 
justment was  required ; one  that  would  admit  to  a 
share  of  power  the  newer  element  in  the  body- 
politic — the  artisan  class  as  distinguished  from 
the  class  that  was  land-owning.  Readjustment  the 
freeholders  (powerholders)  for  over  fifty  years 
refused  to  grant.  Their  close  corporation  based 
upon  property  they  guarded  from  profanation  as 
jealously  as  had  the  Puritans  their  close  corpora- 
tion based  upon  religion.  In  Massachusetts  it  took 
a revocation  of  charter  to  get  rid  of  religious  ex- 
clusiveness. In  Rhode  Island  it  took  a rebellion  — 
a rebellion  of  the  unifying  present  against  the 
separatist  past  — the  rebellion  headed  by  Thomas 


W.  EV?tt  — to  get  rid  of  the  exclusiveness  of  pro- 


The  movement  which  culminated  in  the  Dorr 
revolt  -vis  directed  principally  against  the  resrrie- 


. t — e — — . . . - - — _ . . . a.Sj  •<*■  - -T^I  -<—i  . -i.  2.  C - — - 

ineqasiitv  or  town  re p resen taken.  in  the  General 
Assembly.  Bxh  grievances  were  grounded  in  the 
ictml  :-:nshrrn?n  of  the  State  : the  suffrage  griev- 


.e  rmevnnce  as  to  re- 


p resen  tad : n in  the  apportionment  provision  of  the 
C nurter  of  I60S. 

Of  the  two  grievances  that  in  respect  to  repre- 
sentation was  the  earlier  fell.  Providence  by  the 


daw  of  the  fie^nkiaai  had  sc*  gained  in  population 
as  to  to  entitled  to  the  same  representation  as 
Newport.  As  a matter  of  fact,  it  was  represented 
’ey  i >ur  asseu : lymen  or  deputies,  an  I Newport  by 
six.  In  1791  a commencement  orator  of  Brown 


niversity  alluded  to  Rhode  Island  as  possessing 
nth on  or  pofitiral  compact  entered  into  by 


the  people,  and  'described  hie  charter  as  an  old 
mnsty  document  from  Charles  Stuart.  The  an- 
te tufty  of  the  charter  would  have  weighed  little 
ine  had  not  the  feature  of  inequality  of 


renresentatiou  been  joined  to  the  feature  of  age. 
It  was  in  relation  to  State  taxation  that  the  ine- 
quality feature  was  most  complained  of.  In  1796. 
therefore.  Providence  issued  a summons  for  a 
eoHveathm  of  towns  to  take  into  consideration 


THE  DORR  REBELLION 


2S7 

the  question  of  forming  a u written  *'*  State  consti- 
tution. Eight  northern  towns  responded,  and  in 
October  the  General  Assembly  appealed  to  the 
towns  as  a body  for  instructions  regarding  a con- 
stitutional convention : further  than  this  no  result 
was  attained. 

Providence,  nevertheless,  was  in  earnest.  In 
1797,  one  of  its  citizens.  Colonel  George  R.  Bur- 
rill,  delivered  a Fourth  of  July  oration.  In  it  the 
declaration  was  made  that  “equal  representation 
is  involved  in  the  very  idea  of  free  government.” 
But  how  was  such  representation  to  be  obtained 
in  Rhode  Island?  To  petition  the  legislature  for 
it  would,  the  speaker  said,  be  to  "require  the 
powerholders  to  surrender  their  power.  — a re- 
quisition which  it  is  not  in  human  nature  to 
grant.** 

The  only  course  left  was  to  ignore  the  legis- 
lature and  to  form  a constitution  without  its  aid. 
Thomas  W.  Dorr  had  not  been  born  when  the 
Burrill  oration  was  delivered,  but  what  forty-four 
years  afterwards  he  did  was  in  full  consonance 
with  it.  The  legislature  was  ignored  and  the  peo- 
ple in  their  primary  capacity  were  invoked  to 
act. 

Between  1797  and  1829  at  least  one  attempt 
(1811)  was  made  to  secure  through  the  legis- 
lature an  enlarged  suffrage,  and  at  least  five 
attempts  were  made  (1799, 1817. 152L  1S22.  and 
1824)  to  secure  through  a new  constitution  a 


288 


RHODE  ISLAND 


more  just  legislative  apportionment.  None  of  the 
attempts  were  crowned  with  success.  The  Gen- 
eral Assembly  indefinitely  postponed  the  mea- 
sures of  1811  and  1817,  and  those  of  1821  and 
1822  (which,  together  with  the  measure  of  1817, 
were  resolutions  that  a constitutional  convention 
be  called)  were  defeated  at  the  polls.  The  attempt 
of  1824  brought  about  the  submission  of  a con- 
stitution for  acceptance  or  rejection,  but  rejection 
was  the  fate  encountered.  Under  the  instrument  re- 
jected Newport  would  have  lost  one  assemblyman 
and  Providence  (now  far  larger  than  Newport) 
and  other  northern  towns  would  have  gained  one. 
The  scheme  had  been  devised  to  please  all  the 
towns  ; it  pleased  none. 

With  1829  the  movement  for  constitutional  re- 
form in  Rhode  Island  became  distinctly  a move- 
ment for  enlarged  suffrage.  Providence  had  risen 
in  population  from  11,745  souls  in  1820  to  15,941 
in  1825,  and  of  these  a large  fraction  were  me- 
chanics and  cotton-mill  operatives,  — men  who 
were  not  owners  of  land  and  who  could  not  vote, 
yet  who  regarded  exclusion  from  the  franchise  as 
more  or  less  of  an  injustice.  Petitions  in  relation 
to  the  suffrage  were  presented  in  the  lower  house 
of  the  General  Assembly  on  behalf  of  the  unen- 
franchised in  the  towns  of  Providence,  North 
Providence,  Bristol,  and  Warren.  The  petitions 
were  referred  to  a committee  of  which  Benjamin 
Hazard  was  chairman,  and  by  that  committee  were 


THE  DORR  REBELLION 


289 


somewhat  contemptuously  dismissed.1  At  this  time 
Thomas  W.  Dorr  was  twenty-four  years  old.  He 
was  the  son  of  Sullivan  Dorr,  a successful  Provi- 
dence manufacturer,  and  as  such  had  received  a 
careful  education.  From  Phillips  Exeter  Academy 
he  had  gone  to  Harvard  College.  There  he  had  been 
graduated  in  1823.  Afterwards  he  had  studied 
law  with  Chancellor  Kent  of  New  York,  and  now 
was  a respected  and  rising  man  practicing  his  pro- 
fession in  his  native  town.  Just  how  much  of  a 
Tiberius  Gracchus,  revolving  in  his  ardent  mind 
the  lot  of  the  downtrodden  in  Rhode  Island,  Dorr 
may  have  been  prior  to  1833  (the  year  of  his  election 
to  the  General  Assembly),  we  do  not  know.  That 
by  nature  he  was  a reformer,  an  idealist,  we  are  led 
to  surmise.  Among  his  early  legislative  acts  were 
a bill  (which  became  law)  in  favor  of  poor  debt- 
ors, and  a protest  against  interference  with  the 
Abolitionists.  His  first  unequivocal  revelation  of 
himself,  however,  was  in  an  address  to  the  people 
of  Rhode  Island  issued  in  1834.  In  that  year  a 
convention  of  northern  towns  was  held  at  Provi- 

1 “ The  committee  have  not  thought  it  necessary  to  inquire 
particularly  how  many  of  the  signers  are  native  citizens  of  the 
State,  hut  they  are  sufficiently  informed  to  be  satisfied  that  a 
very  great  proportion  are  not  so,  and  it  is  ill  calculated  to  pro- 
duce a favorable  opinion  of  their  qualification  . . . that  persons 
who  have  adventured,  and  are  every  day  adventuring  among  us 
from  other  States  or  countries,  to  better  their  condition ; who 
enjoy,  in  common  with  ourselves,  all  the  protection  and  benefits 
of  our  equal  laws,  and  upon  whose  departure  there  is  no  restraint } 
should  still  be  restless  and  dissatisfied,'  ’ etc. 


290 


RHODE  ISLAND 


dence  “ to  promote  the  establishment  of  a state 
constitution,”  and  Dorr  was  selected  to  voice  to 
the  world  the  convention’s  purpose. 

What  constitutionally  was  the  condition  of 
Rhode  Island  in  1834  ? The  suffrage  was  re- 
stricted to  such  as  were  owners  of  land,  or  were 
the  eldest  sons  of  owners  of  land,  of  the  value  of 
one  hundred  and  thirty -four  dollars  : that  we  know. 
Representation  in  the  General  Assembly  was  alto- 
gether unequal:  that  also  we  know.  But  there 
was  a further  anachronism.  The  General  Assem- 
bly persisted  in  arrogating  to  itself  judicial  func- 
tions — a proceeding  rendered  easier  by  the  usage 
under  the  charter  of  an  annual  election  of  judi- 
cial officers. 

In  point  of  ability  Dorr’s  address  was  worthy 
of  his  Harvard  training.  It  was  perspicuous  and 
temperate  and  it  dealt  with  each  of  the  several  ele- 
ments of  injustice  in  the  Rhode  Island  system: 
with  the  narrow  suffrage,  the  unequal  apportion- 
ment, and  the  dependent  judiciary.  The  author’s 
conclusion  — in  the  light  of  the  provision  of  the 
Federal  Constitution  guaranteeing  to  each  State 
a republican  form  of  government  — was  that  in 
Rhode  Island  the  form  of  government  was  not 
republican  and  should  be  changed.  But  in  reach- 
ing his  conclusion  he,  as  an  idealist,  advanced  one 
radical,  one  revolutionary,  doctrine : namely,  that 
the  suffrage  was  in  no  sense  a political  privilege 
but  a native  and  natural  right.  It  is  important 


THE  DORR  REBELLION 


291 


that  Dorr’s  advocacy  of  this  doctrine  be  borne 
in  mind,  for  upon  it  in  a short  time  his  personal 
fortunes  and  those  of  his  supporters  were  wrecked. 

The  plea  of  Dorr  for  a constitution  was  produc- 
tive of  no  considerable  effect.  Time  sped  and  there 
was  reached  the  year  1840.  By  that  year  Provi- 
dence had  increased  in  population  until  it  num- 
bered 23,172  souls.  Warwick,  Smithfield,  Cum- 
berland, North  Providence,  and  Bristol  had  also 
increased  heavily  in  population.  The  newcomers, 
both  American  and  foreign,  sympathized  with  the 
ideas  of  the  Dorrites  or  Constitutionalists  in  favor 
of  an  enlarged  suffrage,  and  through  their  interest 
and  support  agitation  was  renewed.  In  January, 
1840,  an  44  Address  to  the  Citizens  of  Rhode  Is- 
land,” printed  in  New  York,  was  widely  distributed ; 
in  March  “ The  Rhode  Island  Suffrage  Associa- 
tion ” was  formed ; and  in  November  there  ap- 
peared in  Providence  a suffrage  newspaper,  the 
“ New  Age.” 

“ Our  first  appeal,”  the  Suffrage  Association  de- 
clared, 44  is  to  heaven  for  the  justice  of  our  cause. 
Next  to  the  whole  people  of  Rhode  Island  . . . 
through  the  medium  of  the  ballot-box.  Next  to 
the  General  Assembly  of  the  State.  These  failing, 
our  final  resort  shall  be  to  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States  . . . and  if  need  be  to  the  Supreme 
Judicial  Power  to  test  the  force  and  meaning  of 
that  provision  in  the  Constitution,  which  guaran- 
tees to  every  State  in  the  Union  a republican  form 


292 


RHODE  ISLAND 


of  government.”  Neither  by  Dorr  nor  any  other 
suffragist  in  1840  would  it  seem  seriously  to  have 
been  contemplated  that,  in  seeking  to  set  up  a gov- 
ernment opposed  to  that  of  the  charter,  force  might 
have  to  be  employed,  and  that  in  a conflict  between 
a government  de  jure  and  the  government  de  facto , 
the  de  facto  government  would  have  on  its  side 
the  immense  advantage  of  organization,  regularity, 
and  law,  to  the  ultimate  sanctions  of  imprisonment 
and  death. 

In  January,  1841,  the  General  Assembly  again 
was  appealed  to  by  the  suffragists  to  call  a conven- 
tion to  adopt  a constitution.  The  Assembly  merely 
repeated  its  time-worn  tactics.  The  suffrage  ques- 
tion it  passed  over,  and  the  question  of  apportion- 
ment it  resolved  to  submit  for  consideration  to  a 
constitutional  convention  to  be  composed  of  dele- 
gates in  the  number  of  members  of  the  General 
Assembly,  and,  like  them,  chosen  by  the  freemen 
under  the  existing  law.  Disgusted  with  the  As- 
sembly’s disingenuousness,  the  suffragists  called  a 
mass  meeting  to  be  held  at  Providence  on  April 
17.  The  meeting  was  a success.  Three  thousand 
men  formed  themselves  in  civic  procession  to 
march  to  the  State  House.  Each  participant  wore 
a badge  stamped  with  the  words,  “ I am  an  Amer- 
ican Citizen  ; ” and  banners  were  carried  displaying 
the  mottoes:  “Worth  makes  the  Man,  but  Sand 
and  Gravel  make  the  Voter;”  “Virtue,  Patriot- 
ism and  Intelligence  versus  $134  worth  of  Dirt.” 


THE  DORR  REBELLION 


293 


At  the  State  House  a collation  was  served  and 
speeches  were  made  by  ex-Congressman  Dutee  J. 
Pierce  and  Samuel  Y.  Atwell  — men  who  as  suf- 
fragist leaders  stood  next  in  prominence  to  Dorr 
himself. 

On  May  5 a mass  meeting  was  held  at  New- 
port, and  on  July  5 such  a meeting  for  a second 
time  was  held  at  Providence.  At  the  Providence 
meeting  resolutions  were  passed  demanding  a con- 
stitutional convention  and  affirming:  “We  will 
sustain  and  carry  into  effect  [the  proposed]  con- 
stitution by  all  necessary  means.”  On  July  20 
it  was  announced  that  a convention  would  be  held 
at  Providence  on  October  4.  To  this  convention 
delegates  were  to  be  chosen  by  the  votes  (delivered 
on  August  28)  of  “ every  American  male  citizen, 
of  twenty-one  years  of  age  and  upwards,  who  has 
resided  in  this  State  one  year  preceding  the  election 
of  delegates.” 

Promptly  on  the~  day  appointed  the  suffragist, 
or,  as  it  now  had  come  to  be  called,  the  People’s 
Convention,  met.  On  November  15,  after  an  ad- 
journment, it  met  again ; and  by  the  18th  its  work 
was  completed.  The  constitution  which  it  framed 
sought  to  correct  the  three  evils  emphasized  by 
Dorr  in  his  address.  It  extended  the  suffrage  to 
each  white  male  citizen  of  the  United  States,  of  the 
age  of  twenty-one  years,  who  should  have  resided 
one  year  in  the  State  and  six  months  in  the  town  or 
ward  where  his  vote  should  be  offered.  It  remedied 


294 


RHODE  ISLAND 


the  inequitable  apportionment,  and  it  removed  from 
the  General  Assembly  the  judicial  power  and  the 
power  of  pardon.  The  instrument  provided  that 
the  vote  upon  adoption  should  be  taken  on  Decem- 
ber 27,  28,  and  29.  On  these  days,  accordingly, 
the  vote  was  taken,  and  it  was  large.  Thirteen 
thousand  nine  hundred  and  forty-four  ballots  were 
cast.  Each  voter  had  been  instructed  to  indorse 
his  ballot  with  the  statement  that  he  was  a free- 
man or  a non-freeman,  as  the  case  might  be,  and 
the  indorsements  disclosed  a vote  of  4960  free- 
men and  of  8984  non-freemen.  On  January  12, 
1842,  the  People’s  Convention  reconvened  and  the 
returns  were  canvassed  by  a duly  authorized  com- 
mittee. Estimating  the  adult  males  of  the  State 
qualified  to  vote  under  the  People’s  Constitution  at 
23,142  (an  estimate  not  gainsaid),  the  instrument 
had  been  adopted  by  a decisive  popular  majority. 
The  claim  was  made  that  it  also  had  been  adopted 
by  a majority  of  the  actual  freemen  of  the  State. 
The  final  act  of  the  convention  was  to  proclaim  the 
constitution  in  force  and  to  send  a copy  of  it  to 
the  governor  to  be  communicated  to  the  General 
Assembly. 

Meanwhile,  what  concerning  the  convention 
which  in  January,  1841,  had  been  decided  upon 
by  the  General  Assembly  itself  ? It  met  on  No- 
vember 1,  remained  in  session  two  weeks,  and 
adjourned  until  February,  1842.  The  truth  is  that 
the  convention  was  in  sore  distress.  It  did  not 


THE  DORR  REBELLION 


295 


know  what  to  do  regarding  the  suffrage.  When  it 
reconvened  it  found  the  situation  to  be  this  : The 
General  Assembly  had  refused  to  recognize  the 
People’s  Constitution,  but  it  had  resolved  that 
those  whom  the  Freemen’s  Constitution  might  by 
its  terms  enfranchise  should  be  permitted  to  vote 
upon  the  question  of  adoption.  Grateful  for  the 
cue,  the  convention  on  February  19  submitted  a 
constitution  abolishing  the  freehold  qualification 
in  the  case  of  citizens  of  Rhode  Island  who  were 
native  Americans,  and  rectifying  in  some  degree 
the  unequal  representative  apportionment.  Upon 
this  constitution  a vote  was  taken  on  March  21, 
22,  and  23,  with  the  result  that  it  was  defeated  by 
the  narrow  majority  of  676. 

Driven  step  by  step  by  the  agitation  and  acts  of 
the  suffragists  from  an  attitude  of  uncompromis- 
ing opposition  to  an  extension  of  the  suffrage,  the 
General  Assembly  and  its  constitutional  convention 
had  at  length  granted  substantially  what  the  suf- 
fragists demanded.  Why,  then,  was  the  Freemen’s 
Constitution  not  adopted  ? Because,  under  the  ad- 
vice of  Dorr,  the  suffragists  voted  against  it.  Feel- 
ing toward  the  anti-suffragists  was  bitter,  and, 
moreover,  the  belief  was  still  cherished  that  the 
People’s  Constitution  itself  could  be  put  legally, 
and  hence  peaceably,  into  effect. 

From  a legal  standpoint  the  outlook  for  the 
suffragists  was  not  reassuring.  Early  in  March 
the  State  Supreme  Court  unofficially,  but  none  the 


296 


RHODE  ISLAND 


less  emphatically,  let  it  be  known  that  in  their 
judgment  the  People’s  Constitution  was  wholly 
illegal,  and  that  any  attempt  to  proceed  under 
it  would  be  treason  against  the  State.  A little 
later  (March  25)  the  chief  justice  (Job  Durfee), 
instructing  the  grand  jury  at  Bristol,  asserted 
that  the  only  sovereign  people  anywhere  were  the 
corporate  people,  that  no  change  of  government 
could  anywhere  legally  be  effected  save  through 
and  by  the  act  of  the  corporate  people,  and  that 
if  the  existence  of  a new  constitution  in  Rhode  Is- 
land were  affirmed  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States,  the  question  to  be  answered  would 
not  be  who  voted  for  it,  nor  how  many,  but  what 
right  anybody  had  to  vote  for  it  at  all.  Then,  late 
in  March,  the  General  Assembly  enacted  a law 
(called  because  of  its  ruthlessness  the  “ Algerine 
Law  ”)  which  declared  all  meetings  for  the  election 
of  State  officers,  other  than  in  accordance  with  ex- 
isting statutes,  illegal  and  void.  Penalties  of  fine 
and  imprisonment  were  prescribed  against  any  and 
all  persons  who  should  assist  at  such  meetings  or 
should  accept  from  them  nominations  to  office. 
Finally,  about  the  middle  of  April,  a letter  from 
President  John  Tyler  to  Governor  Samuel  W. 
King  of  Rhode  Island  was  published,  which  stated 
that  in  case  of  violence  it  would  be  the  duty  of  the 
president  “ to  respect  the  requisitions  of  that  gov- 
ernment which  had  been  recognized  as  the  existing 
government  of  the  State  through  all  time  past, 


THE  DORR  REBELLION 


297 


until  he  was  advised  in  regular  manner  that  it  had 
been  altered  and  abolished  and  another  substituted 
in  its  place  by  legal  and  peaceable  proceedings 
adopted  and  pursued  by  the  authorities  and  people 
of  the  State.” 

So  far  as  the  views  of  the  State  Supreme  Court 
were  concerned,  Dorr  had  sought  to  neutralize  the 
effect  of  them  by  circulating  in  reply  a legal  opin- 
ion signed  by  nine  lawyers  of  Providence  (of  whom 
he  was  one),  asserting  “that  the  People’s  Con- 
stitution is  a republican  form  of  government  as 
required  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
and  that  the  people  of  this  State,  in  forming 
and  in  voting  for  the  same,  proceeded  without 
any  defect  of  law,  and  without  violation  of  any 
law.” 

Under  the  People’s  Constitution  there  was  held, 
on  April  18,  an  election  of  State  officers  and  of 
both  branches  of  the  General  Assembly.  Dorr  him- 
self was  chosen  governor,  and  on  May  8 he  was 
inducted  into  office  by  a great  concourse,  civic 
and  military.  On  the  same  day  the  legislature- 
elect  convened  in  a foundry  building  and  Dutee  J. 
Pierce  was  chosen  temporary  speaker  of  the  house. 
In  the  presence  of  the  house  and  senate  Dorr 
delivered  his  inaugural  address.  The  legislature 
remained  in  session  two  days.  It  requested  the 
governor  to  make  known  to  the  president  of  the 
United  States,  to  Congress,  and  to  the  various 
State  governors,  the  fact  of  the  adoption  of  a re- 


298 


RHODE  ISLAND 


publican  constitution  in  Rhode  Island,  and  passed 
an  act  repealing  the  Algerine  Law.  Two  things  of 
obvious  importance  the  legislature  failed  to  do. 
One  was  to  take  possession  of  the  State  House 
with  its  records,  and  the  other  was  to  install  a new 
judiciary. 

On  May  4 the  regular  General  Assembly  under 
the  charter  met  at  Newport  and  Samuel  W.  King, 
who  had  been  reelected  governor,  was  inaugurated. 
The  Assembly  then  dispatched  an  appeal  for  help 
to  President  Tyler.  A letter  to  the  president  was 
dispatched  also  by  the  Dorr  government ; but  not 
content  with  a mere  letter,  Dorr  personally  set 
forth  for  Washington  to  see  the  president.  On  the 
theory  of  the  People’s  governor  respecting  a Fed- 
eral guaranty  of  republicanism  to  the  States,  the 
Federal  government  of  course  could  not  do  other- 
wise than  recognize  the  validity  of  the  People’s 
Constitution.  Still  the  president,  and  likewise 
the  Senate,  beset  as  they  were  by  communications 
from  the  charter  government,  might  be  misled  ; 
hence  the  journey  of  Dorr.  In  Washington  no- 
thing was  accomplished.  The  president  adhered 
to  the  position  assumed  in  his  letter  to  Governor 
King,  and  the  Senate  laid  the  Dorr  papers  upon 
the  table.  On  May  12  Dorr,  on  his  way  back 
from  his  fruitless  mission,  was  in  New  York.  His 
view  of  the  suffrage  as  a natural  right,  a right  so 
obvious  and  of  such  magnitude  as  to  be  guaranteed 
to  every  American  State  by  the  Constitution  of  the 


THE  DORR  REBELLION 


299 


United  States,  had  in  practice  utterly  collapsed. 
The  People’s  governor  was  discouraged,  and  so 
frankly  avowed  himself.  He  could,  he  said,  do  no 
more  ; he  must  hope  for  an  act  of  amnesty. 

Thomas  W.  Dorr  went  to  Washington  a pro- 
nounced reformer  — a reformer  dominated  by  an 
idea  (as  reformers  are  wont  to  be)  — but  not  an 
unrecking  fanatic.  He  returned  to  Providence  a 
fanatic,  not  only  unrecking  but  vehement.  After 
May  16  there  was  manifest  in  him  the  rigor  and 
relentlessness  of  those  whose  souls,  disdainful  of 
prudence,  go  fiercely  marching  on. 

From  his  fit  of  depression  in  New  York  the  Peo- 
ple’s governor  had  been  roused  by  an  unexpected 
and  timely  proffer  of  help.  Tammany  Hall  had 
rallied  to  his  support.  Under  Tammany  guidance 
he  had  attended  the  Bowery  Theatre.  Under  Tam- 
many auspices  he  had  been  given  a public  reception. 
By  Tammany  braves'  and  henchmen  he  had  been 
escorted  to  the  New  York  pier,  whence  he  was  to 
embark  for  Stonington.  The  demonstration  last 
named  may  be  found  described  in  the  New  York 
“ New  Era  ” as  “ a vast  civic  procession  which  num- 
bered thousands  of  our  most  worthy,  industrious, 
and  respectable  citizens.”  In  the  New  York  “ Amer- 
ican ” the  description  to  be  found  runs  thus  : “ We 
never  in  our  lives  saw  a worse  looking  set  than  the 
governor’s  escort — the  Five  Points  could  not  have 
beaten  it  at  election.  The  governor  sat  bareheaded, 


300 


RHODE  ISLAND 


looking  as  grave  as  an  owl.  He  is  a man  of  nerve 
and  no  mistake  — any  but  suck  a person  would 
have  broken  down  in  a fit  of  laughter  at  the  ab- 
surdity of  the  thing.” 

On  the  whole,  something  more  substantial  than 
the  memory  of  a theatre  party,  a reception,  and  a 
procession  was  carried  back  by  Governor  Dorr 
from  New  York  to  Rhode  Island.  He  bore  with 
him  a written  request  from  the  colonel  of  the  Thir- 
teenth Regiment  of  New  York  Artillery  and  the 
lieutenant-colonel  of  the  Two  Hundred  and  Thirty- 
Sixth  Regiment  of  New  York  Infantry  to  be 
permitted  to  attend  him  with  their  respective  com- 
mands. In  Providence  three  thousand  people  gath- 
ered to  welcome  him  home,  and  from  a carriage 
he  delivered  to  them  an  impassioned  speech.  He 
declared  that  in  New  York  he  had  been  promised 
five  thousand  men  for  use  against  any  troops  that 
the  government  of  the  United  States  might  send 
into  the  State,  and  by  way  of  emphasizing  the 
point  he  drew  a sword  and  flourished  it.  During 
the  absence  of  Dorr  a number  of  participants  in 
the  People’s  government  (Dutee  J.  Pierce  among 
them)  had  been  arrested  by  the  charter  authorities. 
A warrant  had  been  issued  for  the  arrest  of  Dorr, 
but  as  yet  there  had  arisen  no  moment  favorable 
for  serving  it. 

Such  was  the  situation  when,  on  the  afternoon 
of  May  IT,  Dorr’s  followers  by  command  of  their 
leader  seized  some  pieces  of  artillery.  On  the  17th, 


THE  DORR  REBELLION 


301 


about  midnight,  these  same  followers  — a force  of 
perhaps  two  hundred  and  thirty-four  men  with  two 
cannon  — set  forth  under  the  governor  to  take 
possession  of  the  town  arsenal  on  Cranston  Street. 
The  structure,  a stone  building,  was  held  by  a 
guard  which  refused  a summons  to  surrender,  and 
Dorr  at  once  unflinchingly  gave  orders  to  discharge 
the  cannon.  They  had  been  tampered  with  and 
merely  flashed  twice  without  result.  It  was  a f oggy 
night ; there  was  great  confusion  ; alarm  bells  were 
ringing ; all  over  the  city  the  militia  and  citizens 
were  turning  out ; nobody  knew  what  to  expect ; 
nobody  knew  who  was  friend  or  who  was  foe.  Suf- 
fice it  to  say  that  when  day  broke  Dorr  (who  in 
any  event  was  possessed  of  no  military  capacity) 
stood  revealed  a revolutionary  leader  abandoned 
by  all  save  a handful  of  friends.  At  eight  o’clock 
a letter  was  handed  to  him  announcing  the  resig- 
nation  of  substantially  his  entire  government,  and 
before  nine  o’clock  the  People’s  governor  was  in 
flight  for  Connecticut. 

The  remainder  of  May  and  the  greater  part  of 
June  passed  without  incident.  By  June  25  a small 
force  of  suffragists  had  assembled  at  the  village  of 
Chepachet  in  the  Hhode  Island  town  of  Glocester, 
which  borders  upon  the  Connecticut  line.  The  spot 
had  been  chosen  as  a safe  rendezvous  for  such  sym- 
pathizers with  the  fugitive  leader  as  were  willing 
to  fight  for  him,  but  only  a few  had  come.  Dorr 
himself,  after  an  inspection  of  the  men,  their 


302 


RHODE  ISLAND 


poor  munitions,  scant  subsistence,  and  haphazard 
fortifications  on  Acote’s  Hill,  disbanded  them  and 
sought  again  his  Connecticut  refuge. 

Martial  law  in  Rhode  Island  was  proclaimed  by 
Governor  King  on  June  26.  Arrests  were  freely, 
even  indiscriminately,  made.  The  prisons  were 
filled.  For  the  People’s  governor  a reward  of  five 
thousand  dollars  was  offered.  Nobody  came  for- 
ward to  claim  it,  and  requisitions  for  the  fugitive 
upon  the  governors  of  Connecticut  and  New  Hamp- 
shire were  not  complied  with.  In  Providence  the 
occasion  was  not  permitted  to  go  unimproved  by 
the  pulpit.  On  May  22,  the  Sunday  after  the  at- 
tack on  the  arsenal,  Dr.  Francis  Way  land,  presi- 
dent of  Brown  University,  preached  an  impressive 
sermon  ; and  on  July  21  the  Rev.  Mark  Tucker 
(Congregationalist)  followed  Wayland’s  example. 
A parallel  has  been  suggested  between  Dorr 
with  his  youth,  good  birth,  unusual  education,  and 
superior  social  position,  and  Tiberius  Gracchus. 
No  such  parallel  was  sanctioned  by  the  Rev.  Mark 
Tucker.  In  his  eyes  young  Dorr  was  a young  Cati- 
line, talented  and  mad ; or,  to  make  use  of  the 
clergyman’s  own  illustration,  “a  William  Lloyd 
Garrison  propagating  errors  of  the  worst  charac- 
ter, assailing  all  government,  the  Holy  Sabbath, 
and  the  Christian  Ministry.” 

For  more  than  a year  Dorr  kept  aloof  from 
Rhode  Island.  At  length,  on  October  31,  1843, 
he  came  to  Providence.  He  was  immediately  ar- 


THE  DORR  REBELLION 


303 


rested  under  an  indictment  for  high  treason,  and 
on  April  26,  1844,  was  brought  to  trial  before  the 
State  Supreme  Court  with  Chief  Justice  Durfee 
presiding.  The  trial  was  held  at  Newport  — a place 
other  than  that  where  the  crime  was  alleged  to 
have  been  committed  — before  a jury  who  to  a man 
were,  as  has  well  been  said,  “Algerines  and  Whigs.” 
Samuel  Y.  Atwell  was  the  principal  attorney  for 
the  prisoner,  but  at  the  time  of  the  trial  he  was  ill, 
and  Dorr,  although  assisted  by  other  counsel,  con- 
ducted in  the  main  his  own  case.  His  chief  reli- 
ance was  upon  the  contention  that  treason  could  not 
be  committed  against  an  individual  State  of  the 
Union.  The  point  in  1844  was  more  novel  than  it 
is  to-day.  It  had  not  been  illustrated  by  the  acts 
of  John  Brown  in  Virginia.  The  ruling  of  the 
Rhode  Island  court,  nevertheless,  was  that  treason 
against  a State  was  an  offense  altogether  possible, 
and,  under  instructions  which  left  nothing  to  the 
discretion  of  the  jury,  Dorr  was  convicted.  Sum- 
ming up  — with  allusion  to  the  capital  failure  of 
the  suffragist  legislature  to  seize  the  opportunity 
open  to  it  in  May,  1842  — his  own  unfortunate 
career,  the  prisoner  recited  the  familiar  lines : — 

“ There  is  a tide  in  the  affairs  of  men, 

Which,  taken  at  the  flood,  leads  on  to  fortune; 
Omitted,  all  the  voyage  of  their  life 
Is  bound  in  shallows  and  in  miseries.” 

Governor  Dorr  was  sentenced  by  the  court  to 


304 


RHODE  ISLAND 


imprisonment  for  the  term  of  his  natural  life,  at 
hard  labor,  and  in  separate  confinement.  A reac- 
tion of  sentiment  soon  set  in,  and  in  January,  1845, 
he  was  offered  his  freedom  on  condition  of  sub- 
scribing to  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  state  of 
Rhode  Island.  This  offer  he  proudly  declined  to 
accept.  In  June,  1845,  he  was  unconditionally 
liberated  by  act  of  the  General  Assembly,  and  in 
May,  1851,  his  civil  and  political  rights  were  re- 
stored to  him.  On  December  27,  1854,  he  died  at 
the  age  of  forty-nine  years. 

To  the  cause  of  enlarged  suffrage,  and  hence  to 
the  cause  of  human  freedom,  Dorr  made  sacrifice 
of  professional  and  political  advancement,  of  fam- 
ily and  social  sympathy,  and  ultimately  of  life 
itself.  The  conclusion  is  hard  to  escape  that  much 
of  this  sacrifice  was  unnecessary.  Success  he 
achieved  twice,  — once  when  unable  to  realize  that 
he  had  done  so.  The  Freemen’s  Constitution  was 
his  work  and  his  triumph.  Wrung  piecemeal  from 
a reluctant  legislature  and  equally  reluctant  con- 
vention, it  was  granted  at  all  because  of  the  agita- 
tion which  he  had  instigated.  In  November,  1842, 
during  his  absence  from  the  State,  practically  the 
same  constitution  (the  one  to-day  in  force)  was 
resubmitted  to  the  people  and  adopted.  Resubmis- 
sion should  not  have  been  required.  Had  Dorr  not 
been  primarily  an  idealist  and  doctrinaire,  and 
secondarily  a lawyer  and  statesman,  it  would  not 
have  been  required.  The  reformer  in  him  was  his 


THE  DORR  REBELLION 


305 


paradox,  his  irony.  It  led  him  to  victory,  but  so 
blinded  him  in  the  moment  of  it  as  to  rob  his 
career  of  symmetry  and  spoil  it  by  anti-climax. 

Divers  are  the  queries  to  which  the  Dorr  Rebel- 
lion gives  rise.  What,  for  example,  was  its  rela- 
tion to  Federal  law?  What  was  its  relation  to 
national  party  politics  ? 

The  first  query  was  propounded  in  the  judicial 
action,  Luther  vs.  Borden , a cause  which  grew 
out  of  the  assertion  and  exercise  of  martial  law  by 
Governor  King.  Martin  Luther,  a shoemaker  of 
the  town  of  Warren,  had  acted  as  moderator  of  a 
town  meeting  held  under  the  People’s  Constitution. 
For  this  crime  (by  the  Algerine  Law  it  was  a 
crime)  the  charter  government  sought  to  arrest 
him.  The  government  failed,  owing  to  the  fact 
that  Luther  had  fled  to  Fall  River,  Massachusetts, 
but  in  searching  for  him  a squad  of  militia  broke 
open  his  house  and  maltreated  his  family.  As  a 
citizen  of  Massachusetts  (which  he  now  claimed 
to  be)  Luther,  in  November,  1842,  brought  suit 
in  the  Federal  court  against  the  trespassers,  and 
in  January,  1848,  the  case  was  heard  on  appeal 
before  the  United  States  Supreme  Court.  Whether, 
as  so  pertinaciously  maintained  by  Dorr,  political 
power  under  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
be  vested  in  the  people  as  a congeries  of  adult 
males,  or  whether  it  be  vested  in  such  of  the  people 
only  as  hold  it  by  preexisting  law,  is  a point  which 


306 


RHODE  ISLAND 


in  this  case  was  ably  dealt  with  by  Daniel  W ebster, 
who,  with  John  Whipple,  was  counsel  for  the  ap- 
pellees. 

“Is  it  not  obvious  enough,”  asked  Webster, 
“ that  men  cannot  get  together  and  count  them- 
selves, and  say  they  are  so  many  hundreds  and  so 
many  thousands,  and  judge  of  their  own  qualifica- 
tions, and  call  themselves  the  people  and  set  up  a 
government  ? Why,  another  set  of  men  forty  miles 
off,  on  the  same  day,  with  the  same  propriety,  with 
as  good  qualifications,  and  in  as  large  numbers, 
may  meet  and  set  up  another  government;  one 
may  meet  at  Newport  and  another  at  Chepachet, 
and  both  may  call  themselves  the  people.  What  is 
this  but  anarchy  ? What  liberty  is  there  here  but 
a tumultuary,  tempestuous,  violent,  stormy  liberty 
— a sort  of  South  American  liberty,  without  power 
except  in  spasms  — a liberty  supported  by  arms 
to-day,  crushed  by  arms  to-morrow.  Is  that  our 
liberty  ? ” 

As  for  the  Dorr  Rebellion  and  national  party 
politics,  there  is  a sense  in  which  at  first  there  was 
no  connection  between  them.  The  suffragists  were 
composed  of  Whigs  and  Democrats  alike.  Outside 
of  Rhode  Island  the  movement  was  given  a politi- 
cal bearing  through  the  action  of  Tammany  Hall ; 
action  which  enlisted  for  Dorr  the  lively  sympathy 
of  Democrats  such  as  William  Cullen  Bryant  and 
Samuel  J.  Tilden.  Within  the  State,  Dorrites  and 
Democrats,  Algerines  and  Whigs,  became  respec- 


THE  DORR  REBELLION 


307 


tively  identified  after  the  adoption  of  the  Consti- 
tution of  1842.  It  was  by  Whigs  (chiefly)  that 
Dorr  was  brought  to  trial  and  prison  ; and  it  was 
by  Democrats  (after  a hotly  contested  guberna- 
torial campaign)  that  the  People’s  governor  was 
liberated.  Moreover,  it  was  by  the  Rhode  Island 
Democracy  that,  in  1844,  the  national  House  of 
Representatives  (then  Democratic)  was  led  to 
make  an  investigation  of  the  “ rebellion  ” in  an 
attempt  to  discredit  the  course  of  President  Tyler. 

But  in  a deeper  sense  the  suffrage  agitation  in 
Rhode  Island  owed  its  inception  to  national  party 
politics.  At  this  period  the  Whigs  — Daniel 
Webster,  Joseph  Story,  Chancellor  Kent — stood 
for  property  as  the  basis  of  the  suffrage  and  of  the 
State.  The  Democrats,  on  the  other  hand,  — the 
followers  of  Andrew  Jackson,  the  man  of  the  fron- 
tier, — stood  for  manhood  as  the  basis.  A struggle 
between  these  ideas  took  place  in  most  of  the  older 
commonwealths.  In  Rhode  Island  the  abrogation 
of  the  Charter  of  1668  and  of  the  Freehold  Act 
of  1724  was  a triumph  fundamentally  of  the  Jack- 
sonian Democracy.  The  triumph  here,  though,  was 
marked  by  a feature  peculiarly  its  own.  In  1854 
the  General  Assembly  (still  omnipotent)  passed 
an  act  reversing  and  annulling  the  judgment  of 
the  Supreme  Court  rendered  against  Thomas  W. 
Dorr. 


CHAPTER  XV 


THE  CIVIL  WAR  AND  AFTER 

From  Charter  to  Constitution  — Survivals  — Manufactures  and 
Slavery  — A Fighting  Commonwealth  — The  Franchise  — Cor- 
rupt Politics  — Reform  — Providence  and  Newport. 

The  transfer  of  government  in  Rhode  Island  from 
officers  elected  under  the  Charter  of  1663  to  of- 
ficers elected  under  the  Constitution  of  1842  was 
a work  of  extreme  simplicity.  On  May  1,  1843, 
the  last  charter  Assembly  convened  at  the  State 
House  in  Newport.  On  the  following  day  the  first 
constitutional  Assembly  convened  in  the  same 
place,  effected  an  organization,  and  adjourned. 
Straightway  the  charter  Assembly  reconvened,  re- 
ceived a report  of  the  organization  of  the  constitu- 
tional Assembly,  and  adjourned  sine  die . 

On  May  3 installation  of  government  under 
the  constitution  was  made  the  occasion  of  a cele- 
bration by  the  citizens  of  Newport.  A procession, 
composed  of  the  incoming  and  outgoing  State 
officers  and  assemblymen,  the  president  and  mem- 
bers of  the  State  Historical  Society,  the  presi- 
dent and  officers  of  Brown  University,  and  other 
dignitaries,  formed  in  front  of  the  State  House  and 
marched  to  the  North  Baptist  Church.  Here  Cap- 


THE  CIVIL  WAR  AND  AFTER 


309 


tain  David  M.  Coggeshall  of  Newport  (a  descend- 
ant of  John  Coggeshall,  the  first  president  of  Provi- 
dence Plantations)  brought  forth  the  identical  box 
in  which  the  Charter  of  1663  had  been  conveyed 
across  the  Atlantic  by  “ Captyne  George  Baxter,” 
and  for  the  last  time  the  venerated  instrument  was 
“ held  up  on  hygh  and  presented  to  the  perfect 
view  of  the  people.”  The  principal  feature  of  the 
exercises  at  the  church  was  an  oration  by  William 
G.  Goddard.  The  orator  — something  of  a reaction- 
ary — extolled  the  days  of  charter  rule.  “ Then,” 
proudly  declared  he,  “ the  men  who  governed  the 
State  owned  the  State.”  “ Can  we  pass,  my  fellow 
citizens,”  he  asked,  “without  emotions  allied  to 
filial  sorrow,  from  under  the  beneficent  dominion 
of  the  old  charter  — the  oldest  constitutional 
charter  in  the  world  ? — the  charter  under  which 
“ Hopkins  and  Ellery  affixed  their  signatures  to 
the  immortal  Declaration  of  American  Independ- 
ence ; ” under  which  “ the  Rhode  Island  line 
stood  foremost  in  fighting  the  battles  of  liberty  ; ” 
under  which  “ this  State  joined  the  Confederacy 
established  by  the  glorious  old  thirteen  ; ” under 
which  “ Rhode  Island  by  the  adoption  of  the 
American  Constitution  added  the  last  link  to  that 
chain  of  more  perfect  union  which  binds  these 
States  together  ? ” 

In  getting  rid  (even  by  help  of  a Dorr)  of  a frame 
of  polity  sanctioned  by  observance  during  one  bun- 


310 


RHODE  ISLAND 


dred  and  eighty  years,  it  was  well-nigh  inevitable 
that  some  of  the  separatism  of  the  age  of  Roger 
Williams  (when  the  charter  originated)  should  be 
carried  into  the  era  of  the  new  regime  — the  era 
of  unification  and  manufactures.  In  part  what 
was  carried  was  separatism  modified ; in  part  it 
was  separatism  intensified.  In  the  continued  itin- 
erancy of  the  General  Assembly,  in  the  yet  narrow 
suffrage,  in  the  yet  unequal  representation,  and  in 
the  yet  anomalous  position  of  the  judiciary,  there 
was  separatism ; but  it  was  separatism  of  an  ame- 
liorated kind.  Not  for  many  years  had  the  Assem- 
bly been  wont  to  meet  at  Portsmouth  and  War- 
wick, but  down  to  1843  it  had  met  regularly  at 
some  point  in  each  of  the  five  counties  of  Newport, 
Providence,  Washington,  Bristol,  and  Kent.  Now 
(1854)  its  meeting  places  were  restricted  to  New- 
port and  Providence.  Hitherto  the  suffrage  had 
been  perquisite  to  the  ownership  of  a freehold  or 
to  the  relationship  of  first  born  son  to  one  distin- 
guished by  such  ownership.  Now  it  was  open  to 
adult  males  who  were  native  Americans,  with  the 
saving  limitation  that  only  the  possessors  of  one 
hundred  and  thirty-four  dollars’  worth  of  land 
might  vote  on  questions  of  taxation.  Hitherto 
representation  in  the  lower  house  had  been  the  ar- 
bitrary device,  — six  from  Newport ; four  from 
Providence,  Portsmouth,  and  W arwick ; and  two 
from  each  of  the  other  towns.  Now  representation 
was  based  on  population ; but  membership  of  the 


THE  CIVIL  WAR  AND  AFTER 


311 


house  might  never  exceed  a total  of  seventy-two, 
and  to  no  single  town  was  there  to  be  accorded 
membership  in  excess  of  one  sixth  of  the  total. 
The  judiciary  hitherto  had  been  slavishly  depend- 
ent upon  the  legislature.  Now  the  members  at 
least  held  office  during  good  behavior  and  at  a 
fixed  minimum  remuneration. 

Where,  under  the  new  regime,  an  intensification 
of  separatism  was  to  be  remarked  was  in  the  form 
of  the  senate  and  in  the  rule  for  amending  the  con- 
stitution. Under  the  charter,  the  upper  house  had 
been  composed  of  ten  members  chosen  by  general 
ticket  — ten  members  at  large.  Under  the  constitu- 
tion, senators  — after  the  precedent  set  in  the  case 
of  the  Federal  system  — were  alio  ted  one  to  each 
political  unit  [town].1  Under  the  charter  (subse- 
quent to  the  Revolution)  amendment  had  been  ob- 
tainable by  vote  of  a simple  majority  of  the  quali- 
fied people.  Under  the  constitution  (in  view  of 

1 The  organization  of- the  Rhode  Island  senate  has  found  its 
strongest  justification  in  the  argument  that  in  Rhode  Island  (a 
diminutive  State)  it  is  essential  to  keep  political  power  in  the 
hands  of  the  rural  districts  as  an  offset  to  the  economic  power  of 
the  growing  municipality  of  Providence  (W.  P.  Sheffield,  The 
Mode  of  Altering  the  Constitution  of  Rhode  Island , pp.  40-41). 
One  thing,  however,  this  argument  overlooks,  and  that  is  that  in 
human  affairs  power  of  whatever  kind  should  be  conceded  a due 
share  of  political  responsibility.  The  principle,  it  is  true,  is  not 
recognized  in  the  organization  of  the  senate  of  the  United  States, 
but  the  question  arises  whether  a senate  for  a continental  area  is 
a fit  archetype  for  one  for  an  area  strictly  limited  and  local.  It  is 
not  without  suggestiveness  that  even  a continental  area  has  its 
corrupt  burroughs  — its  Nevadas  and  Delawares. 


312 


RHODE  ISLAND 


the  results  wrought  by  simple  majorities  through 
Thomas  W.  Dorr)  amendment  was  only  to  be  ob- 
tained by  vote  of  the  qualified  people  in  a majority 
of  three  fifths. 

Survivals  — the  survivals  recounted  above  — con- 
stitute the  most  significant  fact  in  the  later  history 
of  Rhode  Island.  It  is  in  the  light  of  them  that  the 
politics  of  the  State,  both  legitimate  and  debased, 
are  to  be  understood.  One  after  another  they  have 
yielded  to  the  power  of  the  uncongenial  age  into 
which  they  have  been  brought ; but  they  have 
yielded  slowly  and  in  no  case  without  a struggle. 
The  first  to  yield  was  legislative  surveillance  of  the 
judiciary. 

Athwart  the  face  of  the  judgment  recorded 
against  Thomas  W.  Dorr  the  General  Assembly 
in  1854  ordered  to  be  written,  “ Reversed  and  an- 
nulled.” The  succeeding  Assembly  asked  of  the 
Supreme  Court  its  opinion  of  the  constitutionality 
of  this  act,  and  received  in  reply,  through  Chief 
Justice  Richard  W.  Greene,  the  statement  that  the 
particular  act  was  unconstitutional,  but  that  the 
long-continued  exercise  by  the  Assembly  of  judi- 
cial functions  derived  a kind  of  sanction  through 
acquiescence.  Once  again  had  the  Rhode  Island 
judiciary  receded  from  before  the  legislature.  It, 
however,  was  for  the  last  time.  In  1856  there  came 
up  for  determination  the  case  of  Taylor  vs.  Place , 
a case  in  which  an  appeal  to  the  General  Assembly 


THE  CIVIL  WAR  AND  AFTER 


313 


had  been  entertained.  The  chief  justice  now  was 
Samuel  Ames,  a man  of  wide  legal  learning,  of 
marked  judicial  talent,  and  of  a personal  presence 
not  unlike  that  of  Salmon  P.  Chase.  In  the  opinion 
which  he  proceeded  to  render  he  set  forth  fully  the 
nature  of  judicial  power,  pointed  out  that  the  Con- 
stitution of  1842  vested  such  power  in  “one” 
Supreme  Court  with  appropriate  inferior  courts, 
and  voiced  the  irresistible  conclusion  that  it  was  the 
whole  and  not  a part  of  judicial  power  which  thus 
had  been  conferred.  It  remained  for  the  legisla- 
ture to  confess  the  correctness  of  Ames’s  position. 
The  confession  was  not  made  at  once.  Not  until 
1860,  in  the  case  of  Hazard  vs.  Ives,  did  the  legis- 
lature after  an  elaborate  debate  tacitly  and,  as  it 
were,  sullenly  lay  down  a power  which  it  had  exer- 
cised from  the  earliest  days,  and  in  defense  of 
which  it  had  ventured  to  antagonize  both  the  Earl 
of  Bellomont  and  Queen  Anne. 

Two  other  matters  of  importance  claimed  the  at- 
tention of  Rhode  Islanders  at  this  period : manu- 
factures and  the  question  of  African  slavery.  By 
1840  (owing  to  a tariff,  to  steam,  and  to  the  power 
loom)  the  cotton  manufacture  had  become  thor- 
oughly established.  After  that  year  cotton  was  con- 
fronted by  a rival  industry  in  woolens  — a manufac- 
ture identified  in  origin  with  the  energetic  Hazards 
of  Peacedale,  and  with  the  ingenious  and  versatile 
Zachariah  Allen.  Implements  and  machinery,  now, 


314 


RHODE  ISLAND 


too,  were  notable  local  industries.  In  the  time  of 
the  Revolution,  Pawtucket,  Providence,  and  other 
towns  had  been  centres  for  the  production  of  can- 
non and  small  arms.  By  1794  Elijah  Ormsbee 
and  David  Wilkinson,  the  latter  a brother  of  the 
wife  of  Samuel  Slater  (she  of  the  laughing  eyes), 
had  invented  a steamboat  which  would  run,  and  by 
1849  George  H.  Corliss  of  Providence  had  invented 
the  Corliss  engine.  The  cotton  and  woolen  indus- 
tries, the  manufacture  of  tools  and  implements,  and 
the  fabrication  of  jewelry  (an  industry  which  from 
1810  to  1857  had  steadily  augmented  in  importance) 
made  Rhode  Island,  and  especially  Providence  with 
its  50,000  souls,  a point  of  exceeding  interest  by 
1860. 

Toward  the  question  of  slavery  in  the  South,  the 
attitude  of  Rhode  Island  was  neither  more  nor  less 
advanced  than  that  of  New  England  in  general. 
After  1820,  when  the  slave  trade  was  declared 
piracy,  Newport  and  Bristol  by  degrees  declined  its 
fascinations,  and  the  sentiment  of  the  State  — dic- 
tated by  the  industrialism  of  Providence  — became 
a sentiment  increasingly  for  freedom.  The  Mexican 
War  was  not  liked,  but  the  temptation  to  rejoice 
over  the  victories  of  General  Zachary  Taylor  at 
Palo  Alto  and  Resaca  de  la  Palma  proved  too  great 
to  be  resisted.  Atonement  was  sought  to  be  made 
by  legislative  resolutions  condemnatory  of  the  war 
and  of  President  Polk  for  inaugurating  it.  The 
electoral  vote  of  the  State,  which  in  1852  had  been 


THE  CIVIL  WAR  AND  AFTER 


315 


cast  for  Franklin  Pierce,  was  given  in  1856  to 
John  C.  Fremont.  In  1854  State  officers  were  for- 
bidden to  lend  aid  in  the  rendition  of  fugitive  slaves, 
and  in  1859  the  people  were  profoundly  stirred  by 
the  raid  of  John  Brown. 

Not  long  after  the  raid  in  question,  Abraham 
Lincoln  (February  28,  1860)  delivered  a political 
speech  in  Providence ; and  not  long  after  the  Lin- 
coln speech  Stephen  A.  Douglas  (August  2, 1860) 
was  given  an  ovation  and  a “ clam  bake  ” at  Rocky 
Point.  Lincoln’s  thesis  was  the  memorable  one, 
“ This  government  cannot  permanently  endure  half 
slave  and  half  free.”  “ He  abounds  in  good  humor 
and  pleasant  satire,”  was  the  comment  of  the  Prov- 
idence “Journal,”  “and  often  gives  a witty  thrust 
that  cuts  like  a Damascus  blade.”  At  the  Douglas 
ovation,  the  little  giant  took  occasion  to  observe 
that  one  of  his  ancestors  on  the  maternal  side  [an 
Arnold]  had  been  an  associate  of  Roger  Williams, 
and  that  the  latter  was  really  the  first  American 
“ squatter  sovereign.” 

In  spite  of  its  Quakers,  Rhode  Island  may  ac- 
curately be  described  as  a fighting  commonwealth. 
It  preferred  at  first  to  fight  upon  the  sea,  but  as 
far  back  as  the  Canadian  and  Cuban  expeditions 
of  the  early  eighteenth  century  it  fought  with  con- 
spicuous bravery  on  land.  In  the  war  of  the  Revo- 
lution the  doughtiness  of  the  Rhode  Island  line  at 
Mou  mouth,  Long  Island,  Red  Bank,  Princeton, 


316 


RHODE  ISLAND 


and  Trenton,  under  leaders  such  as  Christopher 
Lippitt,  Israel  Angell,  and  Christopher  C.  Greene, 
was  proverbial,  and  the  war  for  the  Union  showed 
that  in  martial  spirit  there  had  been  no  decline. 
William  Sprague  was  elected  governor  in  1860, 
and  before  the  inauguration  of  Abraham  Lincoln 
he  offered  to  President  Buchanan  the  use  of  the 
Rhode  Island  militia  for  the  defense  of  the  na- 
tional capital  and  for  the  maintenance  of  the  Con- 
stitution and  laws.  After  Lincoln’s  inauguration 
and  the  outbreak  of  actual  war,  the  military  efforts 
of  the  State  were  unceasing  until  the  restoration 
of  peace  in  1865.  During  this  interval  there  were 
sent  into  the  field  28,457  men,  — a force  comprising 
eight  regiments  of  infantry,1  three  of  cavalry,  three 
of  heavy  artillery,  and  one  regiment  of  light  artil- 
lery. The  force  was  in  excess  of  the  quota  of  the 
State  ; it  was  greater  in  proportion  to  population 
than  that  sent  into  the  field  by  any  other  State 
save  perhaps  one,  and  its  cost  was  $6,500,772.  No 
part  of  it  was  raised  by  conscription.  To  conscrip- 
tion the  individualism  of  the  people  was  unalter- 
ably opposed. 

1 As  in  the  Revolution,  so  in  the  war  for  the  Union  Rhode  Is- 
land raised  a regiment  of  colored  troops.  An  attempt  to  form 
such  a regiment  was  made  in  1861,  but  only  a few  enlistments 
were  secured.  In  1863  a second  attempt  was  made  which  resulted 
in  the  formation  of  the  Fourteenth  Rhode  Island,  a regiment  of 
heavy  artillery.  The  regiment  cost  nearly  a million  of  dollars 
in  bounties,  showed  little  physical  endurance,  and  was  made  the 
object  of  systematic  frauds. 


THE  CIVIL  WAR  AND  AFTER 


317 


Unlike  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  the  Civil 
War  was  fought  at  points  wholly  beyond  the  juris- 
diction of  the  Narragansett  Bay  commonwealth. 
None  of  the  operations,  therefore,  call  for  detailed 
consideration.  Rhode  Island  troops  were  with 
Grant  before  Vicksburg,  and  helped  contest  the 
bloody  actions  of  Antietam,  Fredericksburg,  Gettys- 
burg, and  those  of  the  Wilderness  Campaign.  The 
most  prominent  officer  whom  the  State  gave  to  the 
conflict  was  General  Ambrose  E.  Burnside.  He 
fought  as  a colonel  at  Bull  Run ; led  in  1862  the 
“ Burnside  Expedition  ” against  North  Carolina ; 
commanded,  the  same  year,  the  Ninth  Army  Corps, 
and  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  before  Fredericks- 
burg ; and  in  1863,  in  Ohio,  promulgated  the 
orders  which  resulted  in  the  arrest  of  Clement  L. 
Vallandigham.  His  subsequent  service  was  with 
the  Ninth  Corps  under  Generals  Meade  and  Grant. 
Burnside  was  a native  of  Indiana,  but  his  wife 
was  from  Providence,  and  to  Rhode  Island,  his 
adopted  State,  he  devoted  his  life  and  talents  as 
warrior,  governor,  and  United  States  senator. 
Rhode  Island,  it  has  been  said,  preferred  origi- 
nally to  fight  upon  the  sea.  It  so  preferred  until 
after  the  War  of  1812.  With  the  decline,  first,  of 
privateering,  then  of  the  slave  trade,  and  finally 
of  legitimate  commerce  itself,  there  supervened 
(along  with  the  rise  of  manufactures)  a compara- 
tive indifference  to  the  sea.  Owing  to  this  indif- 
ference it  perchance  was  that  the  commonwealth 


318 


RHODE  ISLAND 


which  in  the  Old  French  War  had  kept  a large 
quota  in  the  royal  navy,  and  fifteen  hundred  men 
on  board  of  privateers,  contributed  to  the  navy  in 
the  war  for  the  Union  480  men. 

Distrust  of  delegated  power  had  made  it  hard 
for  Rhode  Island  to  ratify  the  Federal  Constitu- 
tion. A like  distrust  made  it  hard  for  the  State  to 
put  aside  the  Charter  of  King  Charles  II  in  favor 
of  the  Constitution  of  1842,  and  in  the  case  of 
the  Constitution  of  1842  made  it  hard  to  secure 
amendments.  The  amendment  chiefly  desired  was 
one  eliminating  the  separatist  survival  which  with- 
held from  naturalized  citizens,  not  possessed  of  a 
freehold,  the  privilege  of  voting.  Already  the  sur- 
vival which  kept  the  judiciary  under  surveillance 
had  been  gotten  rid  of ; but  it  had  not  been  gotten 
rid  of  by  amendment  to  the  constitution.  In  fact, 
down  to  the  time  of  the  Civil  War,  the  only  amend- 
ments adopted  had  been  three : one  taking  the 
registration  of  voters  out  of  the  hands  of  the  towns ; 
one  investing  the  governor  with  the  pardoning 
power ; and  one  shortening  the  itinerary  of  the 
General  Assembly.1 

After  1842  it  had  been  the  Democrats  that  had 

1 On  April  7, 1886,  there  was  adopted  an  amendment  (the  Fifth) 
prohibiting  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  to  he 
used  as  a beverage.  By  a further  amendment  (the  Eighth)  adopted 
June  20,  1889,  Amendment  five  was  annulled.  For  the  history  of 
liquor  legislation  in  Rhode  Island  see  J.  H.  Stiness,  Two  Centuries 
of  Rhode  Island  Legislation  against  Strong  Drink , 1882. 


THE  CIVIL  WAR  AND  AFTER 


319 


advocated  an  extension  of  the  suffrage  to  the  for- 
eign born.  After  1842  it  had  been  the  Whigs  that 
had  declared  peril  to  lurk  in  a suffrage  that  was 
undiscriminating.  Force,  now,  was  imparted  to 
the  declaration  of  the  Whigs  by  an  arrival  of 
Irish  immigrants  — people  poor,  untutored,  and 
driven  from  home  by  famine.  In  1854  the  Whig 
party  began  to  disintegrate,  but  the  fact  proved 
to  be  little  to  the  advantage  of  the  Democrats. 
On  the  ruins  of  the  Whig  organization  there  arose 
that  of  Know-Nothingism.  The  Know-Nothings 
were  the  “A.  P.  A.”  of  their  day.  They  were 
for  America  for  the  Americans.  In  Rhode  Island, 
therefore,  they  were  against  Irishmen  and  Catho- 
lics, and  by  a sweeping  victory  at  the  polls  in  1855 
put  a temporary  check  to  agitation  in  favor  of 
widening  the  suffrage.  In  1862  and  1863,  how- 
ever, when  the  Republican  party  was  in  control  of 
the  legislature,  serious  effort  was  made  to  secure 
for  soldiers  and  sailors  who  had  been  naturalized 
in  Rhode  Island  the  privilege  of  voting.  The  effort 
met  with  failure,  and  was  not  renewed  with  success 
until  1886. 

Yet  even  in  Rhode  Island  the  trend  of  the  age 
toward  manhood  suffrage  was  not  permanently  to 
be  stayed.  In  1871,  and  again  in  1876,  the  ques- 
tion of  enfranchising  foreign-born  citizens  was 
submitted  to  the  people,  and  in  1878  a systematic 
and  determined  scheme  of  agitation  was  put  in 
operation  The  difficulty  was  not  to  obtain  a ma- 


320 


RHODE  ISLAND 


jority  vote  in  behalf  of  the  naturalized  foreigner. 
It  was  to  obtain  a majority  vote  of  three  fifths. 
The  situation  was  not  unlike  what  it  had  been  in 
1840,  when  Dorr  began  his  memorable  crusade. 
The  powerholders  — the  legally  qualified  electors 
— would  not  yield  the  boon  desired.  A three  fifths 
majority,  it  was  averred,  never  could  be  secured. 
What  recourse  was  left?  The  same  that  in  1840 
was  left  to  the  Dorrites,  — either  a new  State 
constitution  or  interposition  by  the  Federal  gov- 
ernment. 

At  first  interposition  by  the  Federal  govern- 
ment was  sought.  In  1878  Charles  E.  Gorman 
(a  naturalized  citizen  of  the  United  States  for 
nearly  forty  years,  and  since  1848  a citizen  of 
Rhode  Island)  presented  a memorial  to  the  Sen- 
ate and  House  of  Representatives  claiming  for  the 
subscribers  the  privilege  of  the  suffrage  in  Rhode 
Island  under  the  Fourteenth  and  Fifteenth  Amend- 
ments to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 
Said  the  memorial : “ The  naturalization  laws  of 
the  United  States  are,  within  the  State  of  Rhode 
Island,  nullified.  . . . The  naturalized  citizens, 
who  have  renounced  claim  to  the  protection  of  the 
country  of  their  origin,  and  either  are,  or  are  en- 
titled to  be,  citizens  of  the  United  States,  are  ren- 
dered, unless  in  exceptional  cases,  utterly  alien  to 
the  institutions  of  their  adopted  country.”  In  the 
Senate  the  memorial  was  referred  to  the  judiciary 
committee,  but  the  report  upon  it  was  unfavorable. 


THE  CIVIL  WAR  AND  AFTER 


321 


If,  observed  Senator  Edmunds,  chairman  of  the 
committee,  voting  were  one  of  the  privileges  or 
immunities  of  citizens  of  the  United  States  as 
such,  it  must  be  a privilege  or  immunity  of  all 
citizens,  male  and  female,  infants,  lunatics,  and 
criminals. 

Having  failed  with  the  Federal  government, 
the  Gormanites  devoted  every  energy  to  the  task 
of  securing  a new  constitution.  And  here  the 
parallel  between  them  and  their  predecessors  the 
Dorrites  is  of  special  interest.  Like  the  Dorr- 
ites,  the  Gormanites  contended  that  the  right  and 
power  of  framing  a constitution  was,  in  every 
State,  a right  and  power  inherent  in  the  people, 
and  that  it  was  not  limited  in  the  mode  of  its 
exercise  by  provisions  of  the  existing  constitution 
with  regard  to  mere  amendment.  On  one  point, 
however,  the  Gormanites  stopped  short  of  their 
predecessors.  They  did  not  assert  a right  in  the 
people  of  creating  "a  new  constitution  regardless 
of  the  legislature.  The  General  Assembly  must 
take  the  initial  step,  must  submit  to  the  people 
the  question,  Shall  a constitutional  convention  be 
called  ? 

In  1880  there  was  formed  an  Equal  Rights  As- 
sociation, prominent  in  which,  besides  Charles  E. 
Gorman,  were  Abraham  Payne  and  Dr.  L.  F.  C. 
Garvin.  The  question  of  a new  constitution  was 
urged  upon  the  attention  of  the  legislature,  and 
even  in  Congress  agitation  was  renewed.  By  some 


322 


RHODE  ISLAND 


members  of  the  national  House  and  Senate  it  was 
proposed  in  1881  to  reduce  the  congressional  repre- 
sentation of  Rhode  Island  under  that  clause  of  the 
Fourteenth  Amendment  which  prescribes  reduction 
for  denying  the  right  to  vote  to  male  citizens  of  the 
United  States  twenty-one  years  of  age.  But  Rhode 
Island’s  senior  senator,  Henry  B.  Anthony,  who 
had  represented  the  State  in  the  Federal  upper 
house  since  1859,  was  able  to  show  in  an  elabo- 
rate speech  that,  counting  against  the  State  two 
thousand  naturalized  citizens  disqualified  as  voters, 
the  population  was  still  sufficient  to  command  the 
existing  representation. 

In  the  General  Assembly,  despite  the  defeat  of 
successive  proposals  to  submit  the  question  of  a 
constitutional  convention,  sentiment  was  disturbed. 
Accordingly  in  1883  the  senate  asked  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  its  opinion  regarding  the  power  of  the 
Assembly  to  submit  such  a question.  The  court 
unanimously  replied  that  the  power  of  the  legisla- 
ture, under  the  Constitution  of  1842,  was  limited 
to  proposing  specific  amendments,  each  of  which 
required  a three  fifths  majority  of  the  electors  for 
its  ratification.  By  this  opinion  the  purposes  of  the 
Gormanites  — the  neo-Dorrites  — seemed  to  be 
definitely  and  finally  set  at  naught.  The  situation 
found  effective  summary  and  burlesque  in  a 
squib : — 

“ Alas  ! what  a pity  our  fathers  did  n’t  mention, 

That  we  boys,  if  very  good,  could  hold  a convention. 


THE  CIVIL  WAR  AND  AFTER 


323 


They  never  said  we  should  n’t  but  did  n’t  say  we  might, 

{ Ergo,’  cry  the  sages,  ‘ you  have  n’t  got  the  right.’ 

’T  was  very  bad,  indeed,  their  permission  to  deny, 

But  infinitely  worse  at  once  to  up  and  die ; 

For  thus  they  turned  the  lock  and  flung  away  the  key, 
And  Rhode  Island ’s  * in  a box  ’ for  all  eternitee.” 

But  it  is  the  unexpected  that  happens,  and  in  1888, 
on  a further  submission  to  the  electors  of  the  pro- 
position to  amend  the  State  constitution  by  grant- 
ing the  suffrage  to  naturalized  citizens,  there  was 
cast  an  affirmative  vote  in  a majority  of  three  fifths. 

By  the  amendment  of  1888  there  was  eliminated 
in  Rhode  Island  the  last  but  one  (the  dual  cap- 
ital) of  those  separatist  survivals  from  the  age  of 
Roger  Williams  which  were  carried  in  ameliorated 
form  into  the  Constitution  of  1842.  It  was  other- 
wise with  the  survivals  which  were  of  the  nature 
of  separatism  intensified  — town  representation  in 
the  senate  and  the  three  fifths  majority  require- 
ment for  amending~the  constitution.  The  contest 
over  these  particular  survivals  (the  corrupt  politics 
contest)  had  in  1888  only  just  begun  ; nor  is  it  yet 
finished. 

The  history  of  corrupt  politics  in  Rhode  Island 
is  curious,  interesting,  and  suggestive.  In  the 
seventeenth  century  as  early  as  1649  it  was  found 
necessary  by  Providence  Plantations  to  pass  an 
act  in  restraint  of  fraudulent  voting,  and  in  1666 
(under  the  charter)  a penalty  of  five  pounds  was 


324 


RHODE  ISLAND 


prescribed  against  voting  on  the  part  of  persons 
who  were  not  freemen.  In  the  eighteenth  century 
— between  1710  and  1750,  the  paper  money  era  — 
fraudulent  voting  and  bribery  were  both  practiced 
with  extreme  boldness.  A law  of  1715  required 
each  freeman  to  indorse  his  ballot  with  his  full 
name,  and  made  illegal  voting  punishable  by  a fine 
of  five  pounds,  by  not  to  exceed  twenty  stripes,  or 
by  imprisonment  for  one  month.  After  1724  voters 
were  required  to  be  owners,  each,  of  a freehold  in 
the  value  of  one  hundred  pounds,  or  to  be  the  eld- 
est sons  of  such  owners  ,*  but  admission  to  freeman- 
ship  was  through  the  towns,  and  a landed  neighbor 
was  apt  (for  a consideration)  to  be  willing  to 
accommodate  an  un landed  one  with  the  loan  of 
a freehold  until  after  election.  In  1730,  therefore, 
an  act  against  fraudulent  representations  became 
necessary,  one  (in  1736  and  1738)  supplemented 
by  acts  which  prescribed  for  illegal  voting  the 
penalty  of  fine  and  suspension  of  electoral  privi- 
leges for  three  years.  Because  of  the  depreciation 
of  the  currency,  these  various  enactments  were  in 
1742  followed  by  a law  raising  the  nominal  free- 
hold qualification  to  two  hundred  pounds  ; and  by  a 
law  in  1746  raising  it  to  four  hundred  pounds  and 
decreeing  that  the  election  of  a candidate  should 
be  invalidated  by  a single  vote  that  was  fraudulent. 
It  was  not  until  1762  — twelve  years  after  the 
interposition  of  Parliament  — that  it  was  deemed 
practicable  to  restore  the  original  freehold  qualifi- 


THE  CIVIL  WAR  AND  AFTER 


325 


cation  by  lowering  the  nominal  one  to  forty  pounds. 
Nor  even  then  did  there  come  a cessation  of  fraud 
in  elections.  Throughout  the  period  of  the  Hopkins- 
Ward  controversy,  which  did  not  end  until  1768, 
votes  (especially  in  Narragansett)  were  bought 
quite  systematically;  and  in  1790  ratification  of 
the  Federal  Constitution  is  said  to  have  been  se- 
cured through  purchased  votes  — those  of  dele- 
gates from  “ back  towns.”  1 

In  the  nineteenth  century,  after  the  town  of 
Providence  had  attained  a population  of  23,000,  it 
there  became  a practice  on  the  part  of  dishonest 
freeholders  to  divide  up  tracts  into  house  lots,  and 
by  conveying  the  lots  for  a limited  time  to  accom- 
plices — transactions  evidenced  by  the  notes-of- 
hand  of  the  grantees  — to  multiply  their  electoral 
power  many  fold.  With  the  rise  to  colossal  wealth 
of  divers  individuals,  just  before  the  Civil  War, 
the  practice  of  influencing  votes  directly  by  money 
is  again  brought  to  notice.  Since  the  war,  in  con- 
nection with  the  growth  of  the  Republican  political 
machine,  the  practice  has  become  ingrained  and 
widespread  — a scandal  of  a magnitude  that  is 
portentous. 

What,  however,  in  the  history  of  political  de- 
generacy in  Rhode  Island  is  most  noteworthy  is 
the  intimate  connection  maintained  between  that 
degeneracy  and  the  rural  districts.  When,  in  the 

1 In  this  connection  Rider’s  Book  Notes,  vol.  xiii,  p.  182,  should 
be  consulted. 


326 


RHODE  ISLAND 


eighteenth  century,  Rhode  Island  began  to  grow 
distinctly  commercial  and  cooperative,  the  agricul- 
turalists began  as  much  as  possible  to  withdraw 
themselves  ; to  erect  between  themselves  and  the 
urban  centres  barriers.  These  barriers  were  town 
lines.  Between  1700  and  1800  twenty-one  towns 
were  created,  many  of  them  avowedly  for  the  rea- 
son that  (as  stated  in  1765  in  the  petition  for  the 
creation  of  North  Providence)  “ the  petitioners 
are  near  all  farmers  whose  interest  and  business 
differ  from  the  merchants.,’  Thus  barricaded, 
thus  withdrawn  and  secluded,  the  country  towns 
(not  only  in  the  eighteenth  century  but  also  in  the 
nineteenth)  became  the  stronghold  of  corruption. 

The  specific  spots  in  rural  Rhode  Island  where 
political  corruption  most  prevails  are  the  towns  of 
Burr  ill  ville,  Coventry,  East  Greenwich,  Exeter, 
Foster,  Glocester,  Narragansett,1  New  Shoreham 
(Block  Island),  North  Kingstown,  North  Provi- 
dence, North  Smithfield,  Scituate,  Smithfield,  and 
W est  Greenwich.  Of  these  towns  six  — Burrillville, 
Glocester,  Foster,  Coventry,  West  Greenwich, 
and  Exeter  — are  on  the  Connecticut  border,  and 
are  called  significantly  “heathen.”  Seven  towns  — 
Exeter,  Foster,  Glocester,  North  Smithfield,  Scit- 
uate, Smithfield,  and  West  Greenwich  — are  losing 

1 Narragansett,  which  comprises  that  portion  of  South  Kings- 
town lying  east  of  the  Pettiquamscutt  River,  was  created  an 
administrative  district  on  March,  22,  1888.  The  privilege  of 
representation  in  the  General  Assembly  was  conferred  upon  it  on 
March  28,  1901. 


THE  CIVIL  WAR  AND  AFTER 


327 


steadily  in  population,  and  are  called  “dying” 
towns.1  Indeed,  Exeter,  Foster,  and  West  Green- 
wich have  to-day  each  less  population  than  they 
had  in  1790.  Neither  of  them  supports  a resident 
clergyman,  and  the  three  (along  with  Burrillville, 
North  Smithfield,  and  Smithfield)  are  handicapped 
by  superstition,  ignorance,  and  certain  forms  of 
immorality. 

It  would  be  an  easy  explanation  were  one  at 
liberty  to  ascribe  the  aforementioned  conditions 
primarily  to  the  insidious  influence  of  the  State 
machine,  but  to  do  this  one  is  not  at  liberty.  The 
separatism  of  the  Rhode  Island  agriculturalist  — 
due  chiefly  to  an  individualistic  bent  transmitted 
from  the  age  of  Roger  Williams  — furnished  to 
the  machine  its  opportunity.  It  furnished  it,  first, 
with  a senate  so  organized  (upon  separatist  prin- 
ciples) as  to  be  controllable  through  the  control  of  a 
few  small  electorates.  It  furnished  it,  second,  with 
electorates  not  only  small  but,  through  seclusion, 
burdened  with  an  ignorance  and  predisposition 
to  vice  ancient  enough  to  have  been  bewailed  by 
Roger  Williams,  Governor  John  Carver  of  Plym- 
outh, and  Governor  John  Winthrop,  Jr.,  of  Con- 
necticut. It  never  is  safe  to  indict  a whole  people, 
nor,  for  that  matter,  the  whole  of  any  one  class.  It 


1 The  Rhode  Island  State  censns  of  1905  (now  nearly  com- 
pleted) is  expected  to  show  little  or  no  recovery  on  the  part  of  the 
dying  towns.  Providence  (175,000  souls  in  1900)  should  reach 
190,000  in  1905. 


328 


RHODE  ISLAND 


therefore,  perhaps,  is  rash  to  assert  that  the  agri- 
culturalists — the  farmers  — of  Rhode  Island  are, 
as  a class,  corrupt  in  a political  sense,  or  even  cor- 
ruptible ; although  the  town  of  Coventry,  which 
contains  5279  souls,  and  which  in  point  of  social 
morality  stands  well,  has  come  to  be  thoroughly 
debauched  politically.  What  reasonably  may  be 
asserted  is,  that  in  Rhode  Island  — a State  cut  up 
into  small  towns,  each  (regardless  of  population) 
possessed  of  a vote  in  the  senate  — there  have  been 
found  with  no  great  difficulty  corruptible  farmers 
in  numbers  sufficient  to  serve  machine  ends.  Pri- 
marily it  is  to  separatism  — a survivalistic  idea 
and  habit  wrought  relentlessly  into  a system  — that 
the  political  degradation  of  Rhode  Island  to-day  is 
to  be  ascribed. 

Since  1888  (the  year  of  the  adoption  of  the  suf- 
frage amendment)  the  task  of  the  political  re- 
former in  Rhode  Island  has  been  that  not  of 
reforming  decadent  rural  towns,  or  even  of  trans- 
forming them,  but  of  destroying  the  system  en- 
grafted upon  them.  Under  this  system  330,030 
(seventy-seven  per  cent)  of  the  428,556  inhabitants 
of  the  State  constitute  eight  cities  and  towns,  and 
are  represented  in  the  senate  by  eight  members ; 
while  98,526  (twenty-three  per  cent)  constitute 
thirty  towns,  and  are  represented  in  the  senate  by 
thirty  members.  One  section  of  population  (a  sec- 
tion 175,000  strong  and  with  29,030  qualified 


THE  CIVIL  WAR  AND  AFTER 


329 


voters  — the  section  which  constitutes  the  urban 
division,  Providence)  is  accorded  one  senator ; 
while  another  section  (one  40,398  strong  and  with 
5620  qualified  voters  — the  section  which  consti- 
tutes twenty  rural  divisions)  is  accorded  twenty 
senators. 

Prior  to  the  adoption  of  the  suffrage  amend- 
ment, the  hope  of  the  Rhode  Island  reformer  cen- 
tred in  the  plan  of  a new  constitution  to  be  framed 
and  adopted  by  a convention  of  delegates  chosen 
upon  a basis  of  population,  and  acting  through  a 
simple  majority.  But  the  opinion  of  the  Supreme 
Court  in  1883  denying  the  right  of  the  General 
Assembly  to  submit  to  the  people  so  much  even  as 
the  question  of  a convention,  coupled  with  the  cir- 
cumstance that  in  1888  there  was  actually  obtained 
for  an  amendment  so  radical  as  that  for  an  en- 
larged suffrage  a three  fifths  majority,  weakened 
the  convention  plan.  In  1897,  therefore,  when  the 
reformer  again  was  urging  his  demand  for  consti- 
tutional betterment,  he  was  forced  to  confine  him- 
self to  asking  from  the  Assembly  the  submission 
to  the  people  of  an  instrument  in  the  form  of  an 
amendment  to  the  existing  constitution,  and,  as 
such,  subject  to  defeat  even  though  desired  by  a 
majority. 

During  the  year  1897  a new  constitution  was 
draughted,  but  in  the  draughting  the  seDate  of 
course  took  part,  and  although  Dr.  L.  F.  C.  Garvin 
earnestly  pleaded  for  a section  reorganizing  the 


330 


RHODE  ISLAND 


senate  on  a basis  of  thirty-six  members,  to  be 
chosen  from  three  senatorial  districts  on  the  prin- 
ciple of  proportional  representation,  the  old  provi- 
sion, “ one  senator  from  each  town  or  city,”  was 
left  undisturbed.  The  proposed  constitution  never- 
theless was  an  advance  upon  the  Constitution  of 
1842.  It  vested  the  governor  with  a qualified 
power  of  veto ; it  increased  the  membership  of  the 
house  of  representatives  from  seventy-two  to  one 
hundred,  one  fourth  of  which  might  be  held  by  one 
town  (Providence) ; it  provided  for  the  adoption 
of  amendments  by  a majority  vote  of  the  electors  ; 
and  it  provided  for  the  submission  to  the  people 
every  twentieth  year,  beginning  with  1910,  of  the 
question,  “ Shall  there  be  a convention  to  revise 
the  constitution  ? ” But  when  in  1898,  and  again  in 
1899,  the  instrument  was  tendered  to  the  electors, 
it  was  rejected ; the  rejection  of  1899  being  not  only 
by  a majority  but  by  a majority  that  was  emphatic. 

Thus  far  there  has  been  little  to  show  that 
Rhode  Island  (including  Block  Island)  has  begun 
to  abandon  venal  politics  and  to  dispense  with 
venal  politicians,  yet  something  has  been  accom- 
plished. In  1902  Dr.  Garvin  — a Democrat  — was 
elected  governor  in  protest  against  the  Republican 
State  machine,  and  in  1903  he  was  reelected. 
Under  the  Constitution  (that  of  1842)  and  rules 
adopted  by  the  senate,  a Democratic  governor  was 
powerless.  He  could  veto  no  bill ; he  could  secure 
the  confirmation  of  no  appointee.  One  thing,  how- 


THE  CIVIL  WAR  AND  AFTER 


331 


ever,  he  could  do : make  in  his  official  capacity  a 
revelation  to  the  State  and  nation  of  the  condi- 
tions politically  which  obtained  about  him.  Ac- 
cordingly, in  March,  1903,  Governor  Garvin  sent 
to  the  General  Assembly  a special  message  on 
bribery  at  elections.  The  document  was  treated 
with  scant  respect  by  senators  and  representatives, 
but  it  reached  the  ear  of  the  nation  and  also  to 
some  extent  the  ear  of  Rhode  Island.  Said  the 
Providence  “ Journal  ” on  the  day  after  the  message 
was  submitted : “ The  blame  for  the  present  order 
of  things  . . . belongs  with  the  educated  manu- 
facturers and  business  men  of  the  State  who  are 
too  busy  making  money  to  pay  attention  to  politi- 
cal conditions.”  1 

As  has  been  observed,  survivalistic  separatism 
is  the  fact  in  Rhode  Island  worthiest  of  note  since 
the  Civil  War.  Other  noteworthy  facts  are  the 
growth  of  foreign  immigration  and  the  economic, 
educational,  and  social  development  of  Providence 
and  Newport. 

1 In  1904  there  was  formed  the  Rhode  Island  Citizens  Union, 
an  organization  having  for  its  object  a convention  to  revise  the 
existing  State  constitution.  In  March,  1905,  the  Union  secured  a 
hearing  before  the  senate  committee  on  special  legislation,  and  on 
May  4 it  addressed  to  the  committee  a letter  proposing  a consti- 
tutional convention  to  be  chosen  on  the  basis  of  a hypothetical 
membership  of  one  hundred  in  the  house  of  representatives.  As 
an  alternative  the  Union  offered  to  support  an  amendment  to  the 
constitution  providing  for  a constitutional  convention  in  1906. 
Nothing  was  done  by  the  Assembly. 


332 


RHODE  ISLAND 


Since  1848  the  Irish  have  been  a strong  invad- 
ing element,  and  since  1880  the  Canadian  French. 
Indeed,  within  the  last  two  decades  the  influx  of 
the  French  has  been  phenomenal.  As  a result,  over 
thirty  per  cent  of  the  population  of  the  State  in 
1900  (134,519  souls  out  of  a total  of  428,556) 
were  foreign  born.  In  the  case  of  the  Irish,  immi- 
gration is  a fact  not  especially  significant.  The 
people  ally  themselves  readily  with  the  native  and 
other  stocks,  and  they  are  not  discouragingly  illit- 
erate. The  towns  in  which  they  congregate  — 
Bristol,  Newport,  Cranston,  East  Providence,  Paw- 
tucket, Providence,  and  South  Kingstown  — are 
among  the  thriftiest  and  most  exemplary  of  all  the 
towns.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Canadian  French 
by  their  presence  give  rise  to  a problem.  They  do 
not  amalgamate  with  other  stocks ; they  are  highly 
illiterate  ; and  the  rural  towns  in  which  they  pre- 
ponderate among  the  foreigners  — Warren,  Co- 
ventry, Warwick,  West  Greenwich,  Burrillville, 
Glocester,  North  Providence,  North  Smithfield, 
Scituate,  Smithfield,  and  Exeter  — are  among  the 
Rhode  Island  towns  socially  and  politically  most 
in  disrepute. 

Not  that  the  Canadian  French  as  such  are  de- 
generate. In  Woonsocket,  where  they  abound, 
morals  and  politics  are  excellent.  The  trouble  with 
them  is  that  wherever,  as  in  the  worst  rural  towns, 
they  are  brought  as  mill  operatives  into  contact 
with  a decadent  American  stock,  they  contribute 


THE  CIVIL  WAR  AND  AFTER 


333 


to  degeneracy  by  failing  to  withstand  it.  By  tem- 
perament (save  as  to  language  and  the  domestic 
relation  J they  are  a conformable  race.  They  look 
to  the  Anglo-Saxon.  Education,  combined  with 
an  environment  of  wholesome  politics,  would  be- 
yond any  reasonable  doubt  bring  them  effectually 
under  the  great  Anglo-Saxon  tradition. 

Providence  in  1860  was  a city  of  50,000  souls. 
In  1905  it  is  a city  of  190,000  souls.  Between 
these  extremes  of  date  and  population  much  is 
comprehended.  Industries  have  become  greatly 
diversified.  Woolen  goods  as  an  article  of  manu- 
facture have  taken  precedence  of  cotton  goods. 
Silverware,  rubber  commodities,  and  malt  liquors 
have  been  added  to  the  list  of  leading  industrial 
products.  In  1901,  moreover,  there  was  completed 
in  Providence,  at  a cost  of  13,000,000,  a new  State 
Capitol  building.  It  is  a structure  of  white  marble, 
classic  in  design,  and  commanding  in  location. 
Just  prior  to  its  occupation  there  was  adopted  a 
constitutional  amendment  dispensing  with  sessions 
of  the  General  Assembly  at  Newport.  The  long 
standing  separatist  survival  of  a dual  capital  has 
thus  been  eliminated. 

In  an  educational  respect  Providence  possesses 
features  quite  as  remarkable  as  are  its  vast  and 
varied  manufactures.  Brown  University  — excep- 
tional in  its  traditions  of  a Francis  Wayland,  an 
Albert  Harkness,  a J.  Lewis  Diman,  and  an  E. 
Benjamin  Andrews  ; of  a Horace  Mann,  a Henry 


334 


RHODE  ISLAND 


Wheaton,  a Richard  Olney,  and  a J ohn  Hay  — has 
grown  steadily  in  equipment  and  importance.  Its 
buildings  now  number  more  than  a score,  and  its 
graduates  are  to  be  found  in  every  State.  Next  to 
it  in  importance  rank  the  Friends’,  or  Moses  Brown, 
School  (an  institution  dating  from  1819),  the 
State  School  of  Design  (1877),  and  the  State 
Normal  School,  admirably  complete  since  1898. 
Then  there  are  the  seven  Providence  libraries  : the 
Athenaeum  (rich  in  the  ownership  of  Malbone’s 
“'Hours  ”),  the  library  of  Brown  University,  the 
library  of  the  Rhode  Island  Historical  Society,  the 
Providence  Public  Library,  the  John  Carter  Brown 
Library,  the  State  Library,  and  the  State  Law  Li- 
brary. Of  these  the  Athenaeum  is  an  outgrowth  of 
the  library  established  in  1750  by  Stephen  Hopkins, 
and  the  Brown  University  and  John  Carter  Brown 
collections  are  memorials  of  the  enlightened  gen- 
erosity of  John  Carter  Brown,  son  and  grandson, 
respectively,  of  the  two  Nicholas  Browns,  the  prin- 
cipal benefactors  of  Brown  University.  The  John 
Carter  Brown  collection  is  special  in  character,  em- 
bracing Americana  antedating  the  year  1800.  In 
1904  it  was  removed  from  the  Brown  residence  on 
Benefit  Street  to  a noble  structure  of  the  Greek 
order  built  especially  for  its  use  on  the  University 
campus. 

To  one  limitation  Providence  finds  it  difficult  to 
become  habituated  — that  of  inferiority  as  a sea- 
port. Situated  at  the  head  of  a charming  and 


THE  CIVIL  WAR  AND  AFTER 


335 


navigable  bay,  its  ships  between  1804  and  1806 
brought  home  the  spoil  of  the  Indies ; and  even  as 
late  as  the  period  1822-1825  its  foreign  commerce 
was  almost  equal  to  what  it  had  been  at  the  end 
of  1806.  In  the  conversion  of  Providence  from  a 
mart  to  a producing  centre  three  stages  have  been 
traversed:  first  (1787-1825)  the  stage  in  which 
the  town,  by  reason  of  a position  interior  from  the 
coast  and  by  reason  of  the  absence  of  competing 
canals  and  railways,  was  a natural  distributing 
point  westward  to  the  Hudson ; second  (1829- 
1840)  the  stage  in  which,  by  reason  of  embargoes 
and  tariffs  and  of  competing  canals  and  waterways, 
the  town  was  forced  into  production  as  a substitute 
for  commerce ; and  third  (1840-1900)  the  stage  in 
which,  by  reason  of  inferior  railway  communica- 
tions with  the  great  exporting  regions  of  the  West, 
it  has  been  left  behind  by  New  York  on  the  one 
hand,  and  by  Boston  on  the  other. 

As  early  as  1796- it  was  realized  by  John  Brown 
that  Providence  must  hasten  to  avail  itself  of 
artificial  waterways  as  a means  of  commercial 
stimulus,  and  the  Blackstone  Canal  northward 
into  Massachusetts  was  projected.  But  the  work 
was  deferred,  and  when  in  1828  it  at  length  was 
completed,  the  era  of  railways  was  at  hand  to 
render  it  useless.  Yet  to-day  Providence  possesses 
a coastwise  trade  in  coal,  lumber,  and  building 
materials  that  far  exceeds  in  value  and  in  the  ton- 
nage of  the  shipping  employed  the  direct  foreign 


336 


RHODE  ISLAND 


trade  of  the  period  1787-1825.  Presumably  with 
this  not  unsatisfactory  showing  local  ambition  will 
need  long  to  be  content. 

Providence  since  the  war  has  advanced  industri- 
ally. Newport  during  the  same  period  has  contin- 
ued its  social  advance.1  But  as  a resort  the  New- 
port of  the  twentieth  century  is  a place  different 
far  from  the  Newport  of  1840  or  1860.  The  little 
harbor  town,  sustained  by  the  patronage  of  the 
South  and  by  that  of  its  own  sons,  the  little  town 
dwelt  upon  so  lovingly  and  oft  by  the  pen  of  George 
William  Curtis,  has  been  replaced  by  a Newport 
sustained  by  patronage  from  a more  opulent  source. 

The  southerners  of  the  eighteenth  and  early  nine- 
teenth centuries  hired  such  Newport  dwellings  or 
lodgings  as  they  could  find.  Between  1835  and 
1840  gentlemen  from  Charleston  and  Savannah 
began  building  cottages  on  Bellevue  Avenue,  Nar- 
ragansett  Avenue,  and  the  Old  Beach  Boad.  In 
1844  the  Ocean  House  was  erected  on  Bellevue 
Avenue,  and  thenceforth,  until  1861,  the  social  life 
of  Newport  was  both  a cottage  and  hotel  life,  the 
latter  hardly  less  fashionable  than  the  former.  The 
Ocean  House  was  destroyed  by  fire  in  1845,  but  it 
was  at  once  rebuilt,  and  in  1846  it  was  in  the  hey- 

1 For  a class  comprehending  both  cottagers  and  hotel  patrons 
Narragansett  Pier  in  Narragansett  and  Watch  Hill  in  West- 
erly have,  since  the  Civil  War,  become  prominent  Rhode  Island 
resorts. 


THE  CIVIL  WAR  AND  AFTER 


337 


day  of  its  prominence.  It  possessed  a wide  veranda, 
was  pierced  by  a corridor  252  feet  long,  and  its 
chambers  were  spacious  and  high.  On  August  31, 
1846,  the  hotel  was  the  scene  of  a characteristic 
function  — a magnificent  ball.  There  were  present 
three  hundred  guests  at  ten  dollars  a ticket.  Dan- 
cing continued  from  half-past  nine  in  the  evening 
until  four  o’clock  in  the  morning.  It  was  described 
as  “a  medley  of  quadrilles,  waltzes,  polkas,  and 
what  is  more  delightful  still,  the  redowa,  an  entirely 
new  and  perfectly  bewitching  dance.”  Bewitching, 
indeed  (not  to  say  excruciating),  must  have  been 
life  at  the  Ocean  House  in  1846  to  be  described 
as  it  was  by  the  correspondent  of  the  Providence 
“Gazette:”  “We  are  well  catered  for  by  the 
musical  world,”  he  wrote.  “ Miss  Northall  — the 
plump  Miss  Northall  — the  charming  throstle- 
throated  Miss  Northall  — has  delighted  us  with 
her  vocal  melody,  while  De  Bignis  — the  big  De 
Bignis  — the  prominent,  aquiline-nosed  De  Bignis 
— has  almost  been  the  death  of  us  with  his  Italian 
comicalities.” 

By  1852  the  building  of  cottages  at  Newport 
had  become  an  active  pursuit.  There  now  were 
twelve  costly  ones  in  existence,  four  owned  by  citi- 
zens of  Boston,  and  eight  by  southerners.  In  the 
winter  of  1853-54  more  than  sixty  were  erected. 
Among  the  owners  were  August  Belmont,  W.  S. 
Wetmore,  John  Carter  Brown,  Alexander  Van 
Rensselaer,  Charlotte  Cushman,  Charles  H.  Rus- 


338 


RHODE  ISLAND 


sell,  Peter  Parker,  Samuel  Ward,  Sara  P.  Cleve- 
land, and  H.  Hunnewell.  In  1852  Bellevue  Ave- 
nue was  extended  to  Bailey’s  Beach,  and  the  same 
year  the  sales  of  land  by  the  principal  agent  of  the 
town  reached  $485,000.  Between  1851  and  1879 
the  sales  by  this  agent  amounted  to  $13,746,000. 
In  1860  the  sales  were  $508,000 ; in  1863  $900,- 
000;  in  1864  $1,100,000;  in  1871  $1,532,000;  in 
1872  $1,451,000 ; and  in  1878  $791,000. 

In  an  article  printed  in  1879  in  the  Providence 
“ Journal  ” it  is  stated  that  fifty  thousand  dollar 
Newport  cottages  were  then  common,  that  a good 
many  cost  over  $100,000,  and  a select  few  $200,- 
000.  “ Every  known  and  unknown  order  of  archi- 
tecture was  represented.  The  styles  of  old  Germany 
and  of  modern  France,  of  Switzerland  and  Italy, 
of  England  and  the  isles  of  the  sea,  were  faithfully 
reproduced.”  “ Many  of  the  cottages,”  to  quote 
again  from  the  article  mentioned,  “ are  embowered 
among  trees,  shrubs,  and  flowering  plants.  Borders 
are  cut  so  as  to  give  the  idea  of  deep  vistas,  and 
hedges  inclose  beautiful  lawns.  Standing  out  in 
bold  relief  are  trees  like  the  elm,  the  oak,  and  the 
sugar  maple.  . . . Hidden  among  arbors  and  trel- 
lises are  spacious  conservatories  where  flowers  for- 
ever bloom;  and  graperies  where  delicious  fruits 
are  ripened  almost  at  will.  Nectarines,  apricots, 
peaches,  and  figs  grow  in  the  graperies.  Tiny 
dwarf  trees  are  set  in  pots,  and  when  ripened  fruit 
hangs  on  the  branches,  the  trees  are  placed  upon 


THE  CIVIL  WAR  AND  AFTER 


339 


the  dining-table  that  the  guests  may  pluck  the 
growing  fruit  themselves.” 

But  the  pastime  of  luxurious  dining  was  but  one 
Newport  pastime  of  many.  There  were  sports  — 
polo  and  lacrosse ; there  was  bathing  at  Bailey’s 
and  Easton’s  beaches ; there  was  driving  up  the 
island,  and,  on  “ fort  days,”  to  Fort  Adams.  But 
more  than  anything  else  there  was  driving  in  full 
regalia  in  Bellevue  Avenue.  For  what  the  Pincian 
was  (and  is)  to  the  Roman,  or  the  Park  to  the  Lon- 
doner, or  the  Bois  to  the  Parisian,  that  was  (and 
is)  Bellevue  Avenue  to  the  cottager  at  Newport.1 

Between  the  Newport  of  1879  and  that  of  1905 

1 “ Newport  is  all  shingle  and  clapboard,  with  a lot  of  preten- 
tious wooden  houses  each  on  its  little  acre,  or  half-acre,  of  land, 
and  subject  each  to  the  supervision  of  at  least  one  neighbor. 
There  is  no  such  thing  as  privacy,  and  nobody  seems  to  desire  it. 
The  great  thing  is  to  drive  every  day  up  and  down  the  Avenue, 
as  it  is  called,  which  is  a loose  line  of  wooden  cottages  with  board 
ornamentation,  or  to  bathe  from  the  beach  or  to  go  on  Saturday 
evening  to  the  ‘ OcearrHouse  ’ to  dance.  The  air  is  sirocco  cooled 
off  by  the  sea.  Yesterday  we  went  out  on  a yachting  party  — 
Commodore  Stevens’s  yacht  — The  Maria  — and  had  a charming 
sail  in  the  bay.  . . . There  were  two  young  girls,  — one-inch-one 
in  the  waist  and  half-an-inch  in  the  arms,  and  rather  attractive 
notwithstanding ! In  the  evening,  at  the  Ocean  House,  we  were 
greatly  amused.  There  was  a great  crowd,  coming  from  every- 
where, and  among  them  some  very  pretty  persons.  The  band 
played,  and  the  great  hall  was  crowded  with  dancers.  People 
came  in  from  the  cottages — girls,  old  men,  servants  and  shop- 
keepers mixed  together,  and  yet  there  was  nothing  disagreeable 
in  the  manners  of  any  of  them  — all  were  decorous  and  pleasant.” 
— W.  W.  Story  (after  a long  residence  in  Europe)  to  his  daughter, 
summer  of  1865. 


340 


RHODE  ISLAND 


the  difference,  though  less  than  between  the  New- 
port of  1905  and  that  of  1860  or  1840,  is  yet  a 
difference  to  be  remarked.  The  fifty  thousand  dol- 
lar cottages,  and  even  the  one  and  two  hundred 
thousand  dollar  ones,  have  been  superseded  by 
structures  costing  nearly  half  a million.  Hotel  life, 
which  even  after  the  war  continued  for  some  years 
to  be  fashionable,  has  almost  altogether  ceased. 
There  consequently  is  less  meeting  and  mingling 
than  of  yore  of  representative  people  from  different 
parts  of  the  Union.  Society,  which  once  was  pan- 
American,  is  now  almost  exclusively  a reproduction 
of  New  York. 

Newport,  the  historic  town,  no  longer  commands 
the  unique  position  that  it  commanded  in  the  days 
of  the  Wantons  and  of  Berkeley,  or  in  those  of  the 
Malbones  and  of  Dr.  Stiles  — the  days  of  its  com- 
mercial and  intellectual  maturity ; but  it  is  not 
therefore  void  of  distinction.  The  stone  windmill 
of  Governor  Benedict  Arnold  is  now  more  an 
object  of  interest  than  it  was  in  the  eighteenth 
century.  Trinity  Church  and  churchyard  sug- 
gest loyalism  under  Queen  Anne.  The  Redwood 
Library  perpetuates  worthily  a classic  literary 
tradition.  The  Jewish  Cemetery  blooms  ever  in 
reminder  of  Spain,  Portugal,  and  the  East.  The 
State  House  enshrines  the  full  length  (replica) 
portrait  of  Washington  by  Gilbert  Stuart.  Anti- 
quarians are  helped  by  the  museum  and  collections 
of  the  Newport  Historical  Society. 


THE  CIVIL  WAR  AND  AFTER 


341 


On  Coaster’s  Island,  withal,  the  United  States 
Torpedo  Station,  Naval  Training  School,  and  Naval 
War  College  find  congenial  cohabitation ; while 
in  Newport  Harbor  there  gracefully  ride  towering- 
masted  miracles,  creations  of  two  descendants  of 
John  Brown  of  Providence,  John  Brown  Herre- 
shoff  and  Nathanael  Greene  Herreshoff,  proprietors 
of  the  Herreshoff  yacht  works  at  Bristol.  From 
the  War  College  there  has  gone  forth,  in  the  lec- 
tures by  Captain  Alfred  T.  Mahan  on  “ sea  power,” 
a characteristic  Rhode  Island  influence.  In  the 
triumphs  of  the  Defender,  the  Columbia,  and  the 
Reliance  there  are  adumbrated  the  triumphs  of 
the  Prince  Charles  of  Lorraine,  the  Defiance,  and 
the  Yankee. 

In  another  way  the  southern  section  of  Rhode 
Island  has  sustained  the  Rhode  Island  tradition. 
In  South  Kingstown,  down  nearly  to  the  twentieth 
century,  philosophical  idealism  (the  soul  of  Rhode 
Islandism)  was  ministered  to  by  Rowland  G.  Haz- 
ard, successor  in  spirit  to  Roger  Williams,  Samuel 
Gorton,  and  the  individualists ; to  Anne  Hutchin- 
son and  the  Antinomians ; to  Mary  Dyer,  George 
Fox,  and  the  Quietists  ; to  Dean  Berkeley  and  the 
Idealists  ; to  Samuel  Hopkins,  Moses  Brown,  “ Col- 
lege Tom,”  and  the  Abolitionists  ; to  Stephen  Hop- 
kins and  the  Revolutionists ; to  David  Howell  and 
the  political  autonomists  ; to  William  Ellery  Chan- 
ning  and  the  Transcendentalists ; and  to  Thomas 
W.  Dorr  and  the  liberationists.  Born  near  Tower 


342 


RHODE  ISLAND 


Hill  in  1801,  Mr.  Hazard  early  became  the  friend 
of  Channing,  and  afterwards  the  antagonist, 
friendly  and  admired,  of  John  Stuart  Mill.  He 
died  at  Peacedale  on  June  24,  1888.  The  depth 
of  his  individualism,  as  Dr.  Edward  Everett  Hale 
has  pointed  out,  may  be  gauged  from  his  postulate 
that  man  of  himself  is  “ a creative  first  cause.” 

The  history  of  Rhode  Island  has  been  sketched 
in  three  parts : the  part  Agriculture  and  Sepa- 
ratism embracing  the  period  1636  to  1689 ; the 
part  Commerce  and  Cooperation  embracing  the 
period  1690  to  1763;  and  the  part  Unification  and 
Manufactures  embracing  the  period  1764  to  the 
present  day.  The  last  two  parts  are  important  as 
indicating  the  course  of  industrial  development 
and  as  revealing  separatism  in  its  deep  power  of 
survival.  But  it  is  the  first  part  that  is  most  im- 
portant. It  comprehends  the  time  when  Rhode 
Island  alone  among  commonwealths  exemplified 
the  two  leading  ideas  of  Christianity  and  the  Re- 
formation — the  two  leading  ideas  of  modern  life 
and  progress : the  idea  of  Soul  Liberty  or  Free- 
dom of  Conscience  in  religion ; and  the  idea  of  the 
Rights  of  Man  in  politics. 


APPENDIX 


APPENDIX 


A 

TOWNS  AND  COUNTIES  OF  RHODE  ISLAND,  WITH 
DATE  OF  SETTLEMENT  OR  OF  INCORPORATION 


TOWNS. 

Providence,  1636. 

Portsmouth,  1638. 

Newport,  1639. 

Warwick,  1643. 

Westerly,  1669,  May  14. 

New  Shoreham,  1672,  Nov.  6. 
North  Kingstown,  1674,  Oct.  28. 
East  Greenwich,  1677,  Oct.  31. 
Jamestown,  1678,  Nov.  4. 

South  Kingstown,  1723,  Feb.  26. 
Glocester,  1731,  Feb.  20. 
Scituate,  1731,  Feb.  20. 
Smithfield,  1731,  Feb.  20. 
Charlestown,  1738,  Aug.  22. 
West  Greenwich,  1741,  April  6. 
Coventry,  1741,  Aug.  21. 

Exeter,  1743,  March  8. 
Middletown,  1743,  June  16. 
Bristol,  1747,  Jan.  27. 

Warren,  1747,  Jan.  27. 

Little  Compton,  1747,  Jan.  27. 
Tiverton,  1747,  Jan.  27. 
Cumberland,  1747,  Jan.  27. 


TOWNS. 

Richmond,  1747,  Aug.  18. 

Cranston,  1754,  June  14. 

Hopkinton,  1757,  March  19. 

Johnston,  1759,  March  6. 

North  Providence,  1765,  June  13. 
Barrington,  1770,  June  16. 

Foster,  1781,  Aug.  24. 

Burrillville,  1806,  Oct.  29. 

Fall  River  [now  Mass.],  1856,  Oct.  6. 
Pawtucket,  1862,  March  1. 

East  Providence,  1862,  March  1. 
Woonsocket,  1867,  Jan.  31. 

Lincoln,  1871,  March  8. 

North  Smithfield,  1871,  March  8. 
Central  Falls,  1895,  Feb.  21. 
Narragansett,  1901,  March  28. 

COUNTIES. 

Providence,  1703,  June  22. 

Newport,  1703,  June  22. 

Washington,  1729,  June  16. 

Bristol.  1747,  Feb.  17. 

Kent,  1750,  June  11. 

B 


CHIEF  MAGISTRATES  OF  RHODE  ISLAND,  1638-1905 

PORTSMOUTH. 

Judges. 

William  Coddington,  March  7,  1638,  to  April  30,  1639. 
William  Hutchinson,  April  30,  1639,  to  March  12,  1640. 


346 


APPENDIX 


NEWPORT. 

Judge. 

William  Coddington,  April  28,  1639,  to  March  12,  1640. 

PORTSMOUTH  AND  NEWPORT. 

Governor. 

William  Coddington,  March  12,  1640,  to  May  19,  1647. 

PRESIDENTS  UNDER  THE  PATENT  OF  1644. 

John  Coggeshall,  of  Newport,  May,  1647,  to  May,  1648. 
1Jeremy  Clarke,  of  Newport,  May,  1648,  to  May,  1649. 
John  Smith  of  Warwick,  May,  1649,  to  May,  1650. 

Nicholas  Easton,  of  Newport,  May,  1650,  to  Aug.,  1651. 

In  1651  a separation  occurred  between  the  towns  of  Prov- 
idence and  Warwick  on  the  one  side,  and  Portsmouth  and 
Newport  on  the  other. 

PROVIDENCE  AND  WARWICK. 

Presidents. 

Samuel  Gorton,  of  Warwick,  Oct.,  1651,  to  May,  1652. 

John  Smith,  of  Warwick,  May,  1652,  to  May,  1653. 

Gregory  Dexter,  of  Providence,  May,  1653,  to  May,  1654. 

PORTSMOUTH  AND  NEWPORT. 

President. 

John  Sanford,  of  Portsmouth,  May,  1653,  to  May,  1654 
In  1654  the  union  of  the  four  towns  was  reestablished. 

1 William  Coddington,  of  Newport,  was  elected,  but  the  General  Court 
would  not  engage  him,  for  failing  to  clear  himself  of  certain  accusations. 


APPENDIX 


347 


Presidents. 

Nicholas  Easton,  of  Newport,  May,  1654,  to  Sept.  12,  1654. 
Roger  Williams,  of  Providence,  Sept.,  1654,  to  May,  1657. 
Benedict  Arnold,  of  Newport,  May,  1657,  to  May,  1660. 
William  Brenton,  of  Newport,  May,  1660,  to  May,  1662. 
Benedict  Arnold,  of  Newport,  May,  1662,  to  Nov.  25,  1663. 

UNDER  THE  CHARTER  OF  1663. 

Governors. 

Benedict  Arnold,  of  Newport,  Nov.,  1663,  to  May,  1666. 
William  Brenton,  of  Newport,  May,  1666,  to  May,  1669. 
Benedict  Arnold,  of  Newport,  May,  1669,  to  May,  1672. 
Nicholas  Easton,  of  Newport,  May,  1672,  to  May,  1674. 
Wm.  Coddington,  of  Newport,  May,  1674,  to  May,  1676. 
Walter  Clarke,  of  Newport,  May,  1676,  to  May,  1677. 
Benedict  Arnold,  of  Newport,  May,  1677,  to  June  20, 1678. 
^William  Coddington,  Aug.  28,  1678,  to  Nov.  1,  1678. 

^ohn  Cranston,  of  Newport,  Nov.  8,  1678,  to  March  12, 
1680. 

Peleg  Sanford,  of  Newport,  March  16,  1680,  to  May,  1683. 
Wm.  Coddington,  Jr.,  of  Newport,  May,  1683,  to  May,  1685. 
Henry  Bull,  of  Newport,  May,  1685,  to  May,  1686. 

2Walter  Clarke,  of  Newport,  May,  1686,  to  June  29,  1686. 
Henry  Bull,  of  Newport,  Feb.  27,  to  May  7,  1690. 

John  Easton,  of  Newport,  May,  1690,  to  May,  1695. 

1Caleb  Carr,  of  Newport,  May,  1695,  to  Dec.  17,  1695. 
Walter  Clarke,  of  Newport,  Jan.,  1696,  to  March,  1698. 
Samuel  Cranston,  of  Newport,  March,  1698,  to  April  26, 
1727. 

Joseph  Jencks,  of  Providence,  May,  1727,  to  May,  1732. 
iWilliam  Wanton,  of  Newport,  May,  1732,  to  Dec.,  1733. 
John  Wanton,  of  Newport,  May,  1734,  to  July  5,  1740. 


1 Died  in  office. 

9 The  charter  was  suspended,  by  Sir  Edmund  Andros,  till  1689. 


348 


APPENDIX 


Richard  Ward,  of  Newport,  July  15,  1740,  to  May,  1743. 
William  Greene,  of  Warwick,  May,  1743,  to  May,  1745. 
Gideon  Wanton,  of  Newport,  May,  1745,  to  May,  1746. 
William  Greene,  of  Warwick,  May,  1746,  to  May,  1747. 
Gideon  Wanton,  of  Newport,  May,  1747,  to  May,  1748. 
William  Greene,  of  Warwick,  May,  1748,  to  May,  1755. 
Stephen  Hopkins,  of  Providence,  May,  1755,  to  May,  1757. 
1William  Greene,  of  Warwick,  May,  1757,  to  Feb.  22,  1758. 
Stephen  Hopkins,  of  Providence,  March  14,  1758,  to  May, 
1762. 

Samuel  Ward,  of  Westerly,  May,  1762,  to  May,  1763. 
Stephen  Hopkins,  of  Providence,  May,  1763,  to  May,  1765. 
Samuel  Ward,  of  Westerly,  May,  1765,  to  May,  1767. 
Stephen  Hopkins  of  Providence,  May,  1767,  to  May,  1768. 
Josias  Lyndon,  of  Newport,  May,  1768,  to  May,  1769. 
Joseph  Wanton,  of  Newport,  1769  to  Nov.  7,  1775.  Deposed. 
Nicholas  Cooke,  of  Providence,  Nov.,  1775,  to  May,  1778. 
William  Greene,  of  Warwick,  May,  1778,  to  1786. 

John  Collins,  of  Newport,  May,  1786,  to  1790. 

Arthur  Fenner,  of  Providence,  May,  1790,  to  Oct.  15, 1805.2 
James  Fenner,  of  Providence,  May,  1807,  to  1811. 

William  Jones,  of  Providence,  May,  1811,  to  1817. 
3Nehemiah  R.  Knight,  of  Providence,  May,  1817,  to  Jan.  9, 
1821. 

William  C.  Gibbs,  of  Newport,  May,  1821,  to  1824. 

James  Fenner,  of  Providence,  May,  1824,  to  1831. 

4Lemuel  H.  Arnold,  of  Providence,  1831  to  1833. 

1 Died  in  office. 

2 Paul  Mumford,  deputy  governor,  died  in  office.  Henry  Smith,  first  sen- 
ator, officiated  as  governor.  In  1806,  no  election  of  governor ; Isaac  Wilbour, 
lieutenant-governor,  officiated. 

3 Elected  United  States  senator,  Jan.  9,  1821,  for  unexpired  term  of  James 
Burrill,  Jr.,  deceased. 

4 In  1832,  no  election  of  governor,  lieutenant-governor,  or  senators.  Elec- 
tions were  successively  ordered  for  May  16,  July  18,  Aug.  28,  and  Nov.  21, 
1832,  resulting  without  choice.  At  the  January  session,  1833,  the  officers  who 
had  not  been  reelected  in  1832  were  continued  in  office  until  the  next  session. 


APPENDIX 


349 


John  Brown  Francis,  of  Warwick,  1833  to  1838. 

1William  Sprague,  of  Warwick,  1838  to  1839. 

Samuel  Ward  King,  of  Johnston,  1840  to  1843. 

UNDER  THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  1842. 

James  Fenner,  of  Providence,  1843  to  1845. 

Charles  Jackson,  of  Providence,  1845  to  1846. 

Byron  Diman,  of  Bristol,  1846  to  1847. 

Elisha  Harris,  of  Coventry,  1847  to  1849. 

Henry  B.  Anthony,  of  Providence,  1849  to  1851. 

2Phillip  Allen,  of  Providence,  1851  to  1853. 

Francis  M.  Dimond,  of  Bristol,  July  20,  1853,  to  1854. 
William  Warner  Hoppin,  of  Providence,  1854  to  1857. 
Elisha  Dyer,  of  Providence,  1857  to  1859. 

Thomas  G.  Turner,  of  Warren,  1859  to  1860. 

Wm.  Sprague,  of  Providence,  1860,  to  March  3,  1863.  Re- 
signed. 

a William  C.  Cozzens,  of  Newport,  March  3,  1863,  to  May, 
1863. 

James  Y.  Smith,  of  Providence,  1863  to  1866. 

Ambrose  E.  Burnside,  of  Providence,  1866  to  1869. 

Seth  Padelford,  of  Providence,  1869  to  1873. 

Henry  Howard,  of  Coventry,  1873  to  1875. 

Henry  Lippitt,  of  Providence,  1875  to  1877. 

Charles  C.  Van  Zandt,  of  Newport,  1877  to  1880. 

Alfred  H.  Littlefield,  of  Lincoln,  1880  to  1883. 

Augustus  O.  Bourn,  of  Bristol,  1883  to  1885. 

George  Peabody  Wetmore,  of  Newport,  1885  to  1887. 

1 In  1839,  no  election  of  governor,  or  lieutenant-governor ; Samuel  Ward 
King  was  first  senator  and  acting-governor. 

2 Resigned  July  20,  1853,  having  been  elected  United  States  senator,  May  4, 
1853.  Francis  M.  Dimond,  lieutenant-governor,  officiated. 

8 Governor  Sprague  resigned  March  3,  1863,  to  accept  the  office  of  United 
States  senator  ; and  Lieutenant-Governor  Arnold  having  been  previously 
elected  to  the  senate  of  the  United  States  to  fill  the  vacancy  caused  by  the 
resignation  of  James  F.  Simmons,  Mr.  Cozzens  became  governor  by  virtue  of 
his  office  as  president  of  the  state  senate. 


350 


APPENDIX 


John  W.  Davis,  of  Pawtucket,  1887  to  1888. 

Royal  C.  Taft,  of  Providence,  1888  to  1889. 

Herbert  W.  Ladd,  of  Providence,  1889  to  1890. 

John  W.  Davis,  of  Pawtucket,  1890  to  1891. 

Herbert  W.  Ladd,  of  Providence,  1891  to  1892. 

D.  Russell  Brown,  of  Providence,  1892  to  1895. 

Charles  Warren  Lippitt,  of  Providence,  1895  to  1897. 

Elisha  Dyer,  of  Providence,  1897  to  1900. 

William  Gregory,  of  North  Kingstown,  1900  to  Dec.  16, 
1901. 

Charles  Dean  Kimball,  of  Providence,  Dec.  16,  1901  to 
1903. 

Lucius  F.  C.  Garvin,  of  Cumberland,  1903  to  1905. 

George  H.  Utter,  of  Westerly,  1905  to  — . 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


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Mahan,  A.  T.  The  War  of  1812.  Scrib.  Mag.  1905.  (Perry 
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Mason,  G.  C.  Reminiscences  of  Newport,  1884.  (Sea  trade, 
E.  G.  Malbone,  etc.) 

Munro,  W.  H.  History  of  the  Town  of  Bristol,  1880.  (The 
De  Wolfs  and  the  slave  trade.) 

President  Washington  — John  Brown’s  East  India  Ship. 
Pub.  R.  I.  Hist.  Soc.  vol.  vi. 


380 


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Rider,  S.  S.  Case  of  the  British  Ship  Nautilus  at  Newport 
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Roosevelt,  T.  Naval  War  of  1812,  1882.  (Perry  on  Lake 
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Smith,  H.  P.  The  Sea  Force  in  War  Time.  Field’s  R.  I.  at 
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Spears,  J.  R.  The  American  Slave  Trade,  1900.  (After  the 
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Stiles,  E.  Literary  Diary,  1769-95,  3 vols.  1901,  vol.  ii. 
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Stone,  E.  M.  Life  of  John  Howland,  1857. 

Warville,  J.  P.  B.  New  Travels,  1792.  (Newport  after 
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Waterhouse,  B.  Letter  to  Thomas  Jefferson,  Sept.  14, 
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White,  G.  S.  Memoir  of  Samuel  Slater,  1836. 

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Brigham,  C.  S.  The  Dorr  War.  Field’s  R.  I.  at  End  of  the 
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Burke,  E.  Interference  of  the  Executive  in  the  Affairs  of 
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Dorr,  T.  W.  An  Address  to  the  People  of  Rhode  Island, 
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Dorr,  T.  W.  Correspondence.  MSS.  Brown  Univ.  Li- 
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381 


Durfee,  J.  Charge  to  the  Grand  Jury  at  Bristol.  Works, 
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Durfee,  T.  Judicial  History  of  Rhode  Island.  Davis’s  New 
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Jones,  W.  The  Transition  of  Providence  from  a Commer- 
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Merriam,  C.  E.  History  of  American  Political  Theories, 
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Mowry,  A.  M.  The  Constitutional  Controversy  in  Rhode 
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Mowry,  A.  M.  Tammany  Hall  and  the  Dorr  Rebellion. 
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Mowry,  A.  M.  The  Dorr  War,  1901.  (A  very  complete 
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Payne,  C.  H.  The  Great  Dorr  War.  N.  Eng.  Mag.  N.  S. 
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Pitman,  J.  S.  Report  of  the  Trial  of  Thomas  W.  Dorr  for 
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Potter,  E.  R.  Considerations  on  the  Rhode  Island  Ques- 
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Rhode  Island  Suffrage  Association.  Preamble  and  Consti- 
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Richman,  I.  B.  From  John  Austin  to  John  C.  Hurd.  Har- 
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Rider,  S.  S.  The  Nine  Lawyers’  Opinion,  1880.  Rider’s 
Hist.  Tract  No.  11. 

Stiness,  J.  H.  Civil  Changes  in  the  State,  1897.  (An  excel- 
lent resume  of  Dorr  War  issues.) 


382 


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Bradley,  C.  S.  Methods  of  changing  the  Constitution  of  the 
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Brigham,  C.  S.  History  of  Rhode  Island.  Field’s  R.  I.  at 
End  of  the  Century , 3 vols.  1902,  vol.  i,  chaps,  xxi  and 
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Census  of  Rhode  Island,  1895,  p.  905  et  seq.  (Foreign  im- 
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Douglass,  S.  A.  Speech  at  Rocky  Point,  Aug.  2, 1860.  Prov. 
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Durfee,  T.  Judicial  History  of  Rhode  Island.  Davis’s  New 
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Durfee,  T.  Gleanings  from  the  Judicial  History  of  Rhode 
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laxity  in  R.  I.) 


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Eaton,  A.  M.  Constitution-Making  in  Rhode  Island,  1899 
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Equal  Rights  Association.  Constitution  of  Rhode  Island  and 
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Field,  E.  Wars  and  the  Militia.  Field’s  R.  /.  at  End  of 
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Foster,  W.  E.  Providence  Public  Libraries.  Field’s  R.  I.  at 
End  of  the  Century , 3 vols.  1902,  vol.  iii,  chap.  vi. 

Garvin,  L.  F.  C.  Special  Message  to  the  General  Assembly, 
March,  1903.  (Bribery  in  elections.) 

Goddard,  W.  G.  Address,  May  3,  1843,  to  the  People  of 
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Gorman,  C.  E.  Historical  Statement  of  the  Elective  Fran- 
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Greene,  W.  A.  Providence  Plantations  for  Two  Hundred 
and  Fifty  Years,  1886. 

Gregory,  E.  Newport  in  Summer.  Harper’s  Mag.  July,  1901. 

Grieve,  R.  The  Sea  Trade  and  its  Development.  Field’s  R. 
I.  at  End  of  the  Century , 3 vols.  1902,  vol.  ii,  chap.  iv. 
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Hale,  E.  E.  Memorial  Address  on  Rowland  G.  Hazard,  Oct. 
19,  1891. 

Hazard,  R.  G.  Works,  4 vols.  1889,  Caroline  Hazard,  ed. 

Jones,  W.  Transition  of  Providence  from  a Commercial 
to  a Manufacturing  Community,  1903.  MS.  monograph, 
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Lincoln,  A.  Speech  at  Providence,  Feb.  28,  1860.  Prov. 
Journal,  Feb.  29,  1860. 

Lippitt,  C.  W.  Commerce  at  Providence,  1883. 

Lowry,  E.  (N.  Y.  Post).  A Disclosure  of  Political  Condi- 
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population  tendencies,  etc.) 

Luther,  S.  Address  on  the  Right  of  Free  Suffrage,  1833 
(pamphlet). 


384 


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Payne,  A.  The  Constitution  of  Rhode  Island  and  Equal 
Rights,  1881. 

Payne,  A.,  and  W.  P.  Sheffield.  Constitutional  Reform  in 
Rhode  Island,  1886.  North  Am.  Rev.  vol.  cxlii. 

Proposed  Revised  Constitution  of  Rhode  Island  to  be 
submitted  to  the  Electors  on  Nov.  8,  1898.  Same  for 
resubmission  on  June  20,  1899. 

Providence  Journal , May  22,  1879.  Newport,  a City  by  the 
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Report  of  the  Commission  to  revise  the  Constitution,  1898. 

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Constitution,  1882. 

Rhode  Island  Supreme  Court.  Opinion  on  Power  of  the 
General  Assembly  to  call  a Constitutional  Convention, 
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Rider,  S.  S.  Legislative  History  in  Rhode  Island.  Book 
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Rider,  S,  S.  The  End  of  a Great  Political  Struggle  in 
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Rider,  S.  S.  How  Rhode  Island  came  by  two  Capitals, 
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Sheffield,  W.  P.  Random  Notes  on  the  Government  of 
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Smith,  H.  P.  The  Growth  of  the  Library.  Field’s  R.  /.  at 
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Wilson,  G.  G.  The  Political  Development  of  the  Towns. 
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Woodbury,  A.  Major-General  A.  E.  Burnside  and  the 
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Wyman,  J.  C.  Rhode  Island  at  the  World’s  Fair  of  1893. 
N.  Eng.  Mag.  N.  S.  vol.  x. 


INDEX 


Abbott,  Daniel,  162. 

Abolition  of  slavery,  170-176,  282. 

Albany  Congress,  176. 

Alexander,  Cosmo,  135. 

Algiers,  pirates  of,  273-275. 

“ Algerine  Law,”  the,  296,  298,  305. 

Allen,  Zachariah,  313. 

Almy  & Brown,  the  firm  of,  277,  278. 

Amendments  to  the  Constitution  of 
1842,  318-323. 

Ames,  Chief  Justice  Samuel,  313. 

Anabaptists  in  Rhode  Island,  41,  42, 
132,  138.  See  Baptists. 

Anchor  Bay,  7. 

Andrews,  E.  Benjamin,  334. 

Andros,  Sir  Edmund,  claims  of  Con- 
necticut rejected  by,  50  ; serves  the 
quo  warranto , 55-59. 

Angell,  Israel,  316. 

Angell,  Thomas,  17. 

Ann  & Hope,  the  ship,  270-272. 

Anthony,  Senator  Henry  B.,  speech 
of,  against  extension  of  suffrage, 
322. 

Antinomians  in  Rhode  Island,  28-31, 

41,  54,  132. 

Aquidneck,  island  of,  3,  8,  13,  22  ; be- 
comes a political  entityv32  ; incor- 
porated with  Providence,  35 ; name 
changed,  43.  See  Island  of  Rhode 
Island. 

Arnold,  Gen.  Benedict,  appointed  to 
the  command  in  New  England,  223. 

Arnold,  Governor  Benedict,  6,  23,  24, 

42,  45. 

Arnold,  Jonathan,  247. 

Arnold,  Samuel  G.  (quoted),  184,  185. 

Arnold,  Welcome,  273. 

Arnold,  William,  19,  22,  23,  45. 

Articles  of  Confederation,  Rhode  Is- 
land accedes  to,  241 . 

Assiento,  the,  112,  113. 

Assistants,  Council  of,  187, 188. 

Assistants,  Court  of,  189. 

Atherton  Company,  the,  47-49,  51,  86  ; 
sells  East  Greenwich  to  the  Hugue- 
nots, 146  ; settles  the  Narragansett 
country,  148. 


Atwell,  Samuel  Y.,  293;  attorney  for 
Dorr,  303. 

Auchmuty,  Robert,  commissioner  on 
the  Gaspee  affair,  208. 

Ayrault,  Daniel,  71,  119,  147. 

Ayrault,  Dr.  Pierre,  settles  at  East 
Greenwich,  146-148. 

Bahamas,  cruise  of  Esek  Hopkins  to 
the,  214,  216. 

Bainbridge,  Capt.,  274. 

Bankes,  John,  86-88,  92. 

Baptists  in  Rhode  Island,  132,  150, 
164,  209.  See  Anabaptists. 

Barbary  pirates,  depredations  of,  273- 
275. 

Barrington,  Lady,  attaohment  of 
Roger  Williams  to,  14. 

Barrington,  the  schools  in,  131. 

Barton,  William,  captures  General 
Prescott,  224-226  ; speech  of,  255. 

Bates,  Frank  G.,  monograph  by,  256 ; 
reference,  193,  194. 

Baxter,  Capt.  George,  44. 

Bellomont,  administration  of  the  Earl 
of,  90-93 ; report  of,  on  Rhode  Is- 
land, 91,  92. 

Berkeley,  Dean,  in  Rhode  Island,  129, 
130,  132-135,  153,  172  ; sends  organ 
to  Trinity  Church,  141. 

Blackstone  Canal,  the,  335. 

Blackstone  River,  the,  4. 

Blackstone,  William,  53. 

Block,  Adrian,  visits  Narragansett 
Bay,  6 ; names  Block  Island,  7 ; ac- 
count of  the  Indians  by,  7. 

Block  Island,  incorporated  with  Rhode 
Island,  55 ; refuge  for  pirates,  89  ; 
British  seen  off,  222.  See  New 
Shoreham. 

Boston  and  Providence  R.  R.  opened, 

282. 

Boston  Neck,  purchase  of,  48. 

Boundary  Commission  of  1665,  49. 

Bowditch,  Josiah  B.  (quoted),  9. 

Bowen,  Jabez,  162 ; serves  on  com- 
mittee for  construction  of  a navy, 
219 ; Federalist  leader,  255. 


388 


INDEX 


Bradish,  Joseph,  88,  89. 

Brenton,  William,  30,  60. 

Brett,  Mrs.  Mary,  172. 

Brett,  Dr.  Thomas,  135. 

Briggs,  Aaron,  testimony  of,  in  the 
Gaspee  case,  207. 

Bristol,  surrendered  to  Rhode  Island, 
46;  slave  trade  at,  115,  263,  264; 
schools  in,  131 ; mentioned,  193; 
privateers  of,  277 ; suffrage  in,  288  ; 
population  of  (in  1840),  291;  the 
Irish  in,  332. 

British  in  Rhode  Island,  the,  221-237, 
258-260. 

Brown  & Benson,  the  firm  of,  269, 
270,  274. 

Brown  & Francis,  the  firm  of,  269, 
270. 

Brown  & Ives,  the  firm  of,  280. 

Brown,  Chad,  161. 

Brown,  James,  161. 

Brown,  John  (of  Newport),  119. 

Brown,  John  (of  Providence),  161 ; 
lays  corner-stone  of  University  Hall, 
166 ; plans  destruction  of  the  Gas- 
pee, 205-207 ; prisoner  at  Boston, 
211  ; serves  on  committee  for  con- 
struction of  a navy,  219,  220 ; criti- 
cises the  American  retreat  from 
Newport,  233;  interest  of,  in  com- 
merce, 268-270  ; death  of,  272. 

Brown,  Joseph,  161 ; serves  on  com- 
mittee for  construction  of  a navy, 
219. 

Brown,  Rev.  Marmaduke,  172. 

Brown,  Moses,  161-163,  166 ; connec- 
tion with  the  Olney-Palfrey  love- 
affair,  166-169  ; marriage,  170  ; ef- 
forts to  secure  the  abolition  of  slav- 
ery, 170,  171,  261,  282;  obtains  his 
brother’s  release,  211 ; letter  of,  to 
Samuel  Slater,  267. 

Brown,  Nathaniel  (of  Plymouth),  160. 

Brown,  Nicholas,  the  elder,  161. 

Brown,  Nicholas,  Jr.,  benefactor  of 
Brown  University,  166,  334;  serves 
on  committee  for  construction  of  a 
navy,  219. 

Brown,  Obadiah,  letter  to,  261. 

Brown,  Peleg,  119. 

Brown  Library,  the  John  Carter,  334. 

Brown  University,  166,  286 ; growth 
of,  333,  334.  See  Rhode  Island  Col- 
lege. 

Bryant,  William  Cullen,  sympathy  of, 
for  Dorr,  306. 

Bull,  Henry,  31,  59,  60. 

Burges,  Tristram,  285. 

Burnside,  Gen.  Ambrose  E.,  317. 

Burnyeat,  John,  55. 

Burrill,  George  R.,  oration  of,  287. 


Burrillville,  corrupt  politics  of,  326; 
Canadian  French  in,  332. 

Butts  Hill,  British  fortifications  at, 
229;  failure  to  storm,  231,  232. 

Cabot,  career  of  the  ship,  213, 216,  217. 

Callender,  Rev.  John,  135. 

Canada,  expeditions  against,  65-67,  84, 
98. 

Canadian  French  in  Rhode  Island, 

332,  333. 

Canonchet,  the  Indian  sachem,  52,  53. 

Canonicus,  7, 18;  sells  Aquidneck,  29; 
makes  submission  to  Gorton,  46. 

Carpenter,  Esther  B.,  book  written  by, 

10. 

Carpenter,  William,  19. 

Carr,  Sir  Robert,  49. 

Cartagena,  attack  upon  (1741),  67. 

Carter,  John,  246. 

Cartwright,  George,  49. 

Champlin,  Margaret,  240. 

Channing,  John,  120. 

Channing,  William,  82 ; marriage  of, 
266. 

Channing,  William  Ellery,  266. 

Charter  of  1663,  the,  43-45,  55 ; for- 
feited and  restored,  59. 

Charterhouse  School,  Roger  Williams 
at  the,  14. 

Chastellux,  Chevalier  de,  description 
of  Newport  by,  238,  239. 

Chepachet,  the  Dorrites  at,  301. 

Church,  Capt.  Benjamin,  53. 

Civil  War,  Rhode  Island  troops  in  the, 
316,  317. 

Clap,  Rev.  Nathaniel,  133,  135. 

Clarke,  John,  13,  30-33,  40,  42  ; helps 
to  purchase  Aquidneck,  29 ; nego- 
tiates the  Charter  of  1663,  44  ; takes 
part  in  boundary  dispute,  49  ; death 
of,  61. 

Clarke,  John  Innes,  serves  on  commit- 
tee for  construction  of  a navy,  219. 

Clarke,  Walter,  governor  from  1696- 
1698,  85,  91. 

Clinton,  Sir  Henry,  commands  the 
British  at  Newport,  223. 

Coddington,  Nathaniel,  86,  87. 

Coddington,  William,  13, 30,  31,  35,  60, 
61 ; helps  to  purchase  Aquidneck, 
29  ; governor  of  Aquidneck  and  Co- 
nanicut,  38-41 . 

Coddington,  Gov.  William,  dealings 
with  pirates,  85. 

Coggeshall,  David  M.,  309. 

Coggeshall,  John,  30 ; first  president 
of  Providence  Plantations,  38. 

Coke,  Sir  Edward,  13,  14,  16. 

Cole,  Robert,  19. 

Collins,  Henry,  119}  wealth  of,  120, 


INDEX 


389 


134;  gives  site  for  Redwood  Library, 
135. 

Collins,  John,  Anti-Federalist  leader, 
255. 

Colvill,  Admiral,  letter  of,  200. 

Comer,  Rev.  John,  133,  135. 

Conanicut  Island,  3. 

Conflans,  Admiral,  100. 

Congregationalists  in  Rhode  Island, 
132,  133,  138,  149,  150,  164. 

Connecticut,  relations  of,  with  the  In- 
dians, 26  ; boundary  disputes  with, 
46-50;  charter  for,  48,  49. 

Constitution  of  1842,  291-304;  the 
adoption  of,  308,  309;  provisions  of, 
310-313;  amendments  to,  318-323. 

Constitution,  the  frigate,  274. 

Convention  for  ratification  of  the  Fed- 
eral Constitution,  255,  256. 

Cooke,  Nicholas,  162;  becomes  gov- 
ernor, 214;  serves  on  committee  for 
construction  of  a navy,  219. 

Corliss,  George  H.,  engine  invented 
by,  314. 

Corrupt  politics  in  Rhode  Island, 
323-331. 

Cotton,  John,  28. 

Cotton,  Rev.  Josiah,  132. 

Court  of  Assistants,  powers  of,  189. 

Coventry,  24;  corrupt  politics  of,  326, 
328;  Canadian  French  in,  332. 

Crandall,  John,  42. 

Cranfield,  Edward,  claims  of  Connec- 
ticut sustained  by,  50. 

Cranston,  Samuel,  governor,  67,  91; 
report  of,  on  Rhode  Island  (1708), 
108,  109 ; death  of,  119. 

Cranston,  the  town  of,  the  Irish  in, 
332. 

Crawford,  Gideon,  160. 

Crawford,  William,  160.— 

Cromwell,  Oliver,  40,  41. 

Crown  Point  expedition,  bills  to  meet 
the  cost  of,  74. 

Cumberland,  53;  surrendered  to 
Rhode  Island,  46,  193;  population 
of  (in  1840),  291. 

Cutler,  George,  89. 

D’Anville,  Due,  99, 100. 

Dartmouth,  Lord,  207,  208. 

Decatur,  Stephen,  made  a freeman, 
183;  his  grandson,  275. 

Deming,  Clarence  (quoted),  9. 

Dennis,  Capt.  John,  of  the  Defiance, 
102-105. 

Dennis,  William,  105. 

D’Estaing,  Admiral,  arrives  off  Rhode 
Island,  227 ; urges  action,  229 ; 
blockades  British  fleet,  230;  meets 
Lord  Howe  and  retires  to  Boston, 


231,  232;  sails  for  the  West  Indies, 
237. 

De  Ternay,  Admiral,  237. 

Devol,  Gilbert,  judge  in  the  case  of 
Trevett  vs.  Weeden,  82. 

DeWolf,  Charles,  263. 

DeWolf,  James,  263;  in  the  war  of 
1812,  277. 

DeWolf,  John,  263. 

DeWolf,  Mark  Anthony,  263. 

Diman,  J.  Lewis,  333. 

Dorr,  Henry  C.  (quoted),  184. 

Dorr,  Sullivan,  289. 

Dorr,  Thomas  W.,  285,  287,  289-304; 
reversal  of  judgment  against,  312. 

Dorr  Rebellion,  the,  285-307. 

Douglas,  Stephen  A.,  speech  of,  315. 

Doyle,  John  A.  (quoted),  185. 

Duddingston,  Lieut.  William,  205,  206. 

Dudley,  Joseph,  made  president  of  the 
Council  for  New  England,  58  ; gov- 
ernor of  Massachusetts,  92,  94; 
complaints  against  Rhode  Island, 
by,  147. 

Dunlop,  Lieut.,  commander  of  the 
Pigot,  235. 

Durfee,  Chief  Justice  Job,  296 ; pre- 
sides at  the  trial  of  Dorr,  303. 

Durfee’s  Hill,  4. 

Dyer,  Mary,  43. 

Dyer,  William,  31. 

East  Greenwich,  50 ; Huguenots  in, 
146-148;  corrupt  politics  in,  326. 

East  India  trade  of  Providence,  269- 
273. 

Easton,  John,  governor  from  1690- 
1695,  85,  87. 

Easton,  Nicholas,  30,  33,  60. 

Edmundson,  William,  55. 

Edwards,  Dr.  Morgan,  165. 

Elizar,  Isaac,  denied  naturalization, 
180-182. 

Ellery,  William,  71,  119, 134,  140. 

Ellery,  William,  Jr.,  delegate  to  the 
Continental  Congress,  222,  227. 

Episcopalians  in  Rhode  Island,  132, 
133,  138,  149, 150,  164;  efforts  of,  to 
secure  the  abolition  of  slavery,  171, 
172;  loyalism  of,  209. 

Exeter,  corrupt  politics  in,  326. 

Fauque,  Father,  letter  of,  102,  263. 

Feke,  Robert,  135,  136. 

Femme  Goose  Bay,  99. 

Fenner,  Governor  Arthur,  281,  282. 

Fenner,  Governor  James,  281. 

Fletcher,  Governor  Benjamin,  of  New 
York,  appeals  to  Rhode  Island,  66. 

Fones,  Capt.  Daniel,  of  the  Tartar, 
98-100. 


390 


INDEX 


Fort  Anne,  70. 

Fort  George,  70,  71. 

Foster,  corrupt  politics  in  the  town  of, 
326. 

Foster,  Theodore,  273. 

Foster,  William  E.  (quoted),  161, 193. 

Fox,  George,  controversy  of,  with 
Roger  Williams,  55. 

Franchise  in  Rhode  Island,  the,  319- 
323 

Franklin,  James,  131,  132,  135. 

Freebody,  John,  71, 119. 

Freebody,  Samuel,  119. 

Freemen’s  Constitution,  the,  295,  304. 

Frencli-Canadians  in  Rhode  Island, 
332  333 

French  War  of  1756,  the,  84, 105. 

Friends’  School,  the,  334. 

Gardiner,  Hannah,  151,  155. 

Gardner,  Newport,  the  free  negro, 
125. 

Garvin,  Dr.  L.  F.  C.,  efforts  of,  for 
i the  extension  of  suffrage,  321 ; ca- 
reer as  reformer  and  governor,  329- 
331. 

Gaspee,  destruction  of  the,  204-209, 
276. 

Gates,  Gen.,  appointed  to  the  com- 
mand in  New  England,  236;  mea- 
sures of,  for  the  relief  of  Rhode  Is- 
land, 236,  237. 

Geography,  3-7. 

George  Washington,  the  ship,  269, 274, 
275. 

Georgia,  refuses  to  accept  the  5%  im- 
post, 244,  245. 

Gillam,  James,  90. 

Glasgow,  H.  M.  S.,  fight  with,  off  Point 
Judith,  216,  217. 

Glocester,  town  of,  created,  160 ; Dorr- 
ites  in,  301 ; corrupt  politics  in, 
326  ; Canadian  French  in,  332. 

Glover,  John,  brigade  of,  sent  to  New- 
port, 228. 

Goat  Island,  6. 

Goddard,  William  G.,  oration  by,  309. 

Gorman,  Charles  E.,  efforts  of,  for  ex- 
tension of  the  suffrage,  320-322. 

Gorton,  Samuel,  13,  21-27,  30,  31,  40, 
46 ; services  on  the  Connecticut 
boundary,  50;  death  of,  61. 

Grant,  Sueton,  119. 

Greene,  Christopher  C.,  316. 

Greene,  John,  19,  23,  92 ; services  on 
the  Connecticut  boundary,  50; 
deputy-governor,  86,  88,  89 ; Bello- 
mont’s  account  of,  91. 

Greene,  Nathaniel,  made  commander 
of  the  Rhode  Island  militia,  213; 
mentioned,  227  ; letters  of,  228, 233 ; 


drives  Cornwallis  into  Yorktown 
240. 

Greene,  Governor  William,  71,  98,  99. 

Greene,  Governor  William  the 
younger,  appeals  to  Connecticut  for 
aid,  236. 

Grenville,  George,  200. 

Hamilton,  Alexander,  245-247. 

Harkness,  Albert,  334. 

Harris,  William,  13,  18, 19,  50,  51,  61, 
86, 159. 

Harrison,  Peter,  architect  of  the  Red- 
wood Library,  135, 136. 

Hay,  John,  334. 

Hazard,  Benjamin,  chairman  of  com- 
mittee on  suffrage,  288. 

Hazard,  Jonathan  J.,  Anti-Federalist 
leader,  255. 

Hazard,  Joseph,  judge  in  case  of  Tre- 
vett  vs.  Weeden , 82,  83. 

Hazard,  Rowland  G.,  341,  342. 

Hazard,  Thomas,  31,  120;  efforts  to 
secure  the  abolition  of  slavery,  282. 

Hazard  vs.  Ives,  case  of,  313. 

Herreshoff  yacht  works,  341. 

Het,  Ren£,  100. 

Holden,  Randall,  23,  46 ; services  on 
the  Connecticut  boundary,  50. 

Holliman,  Ezekiel,  19. 

Holmes,  Obadiah,  42. 

Holmes  vs.  Walton,  the  case  of,  80,  81 
(note). 

Honyman,  Rev.  James,  133,  135, 172. 

Hope  Island,  7. 

Hopkins,  Esek,  161 ; commander-in- 
chief  of  the  navy,  213,  214  ; career 
of,  216-220. 

Hopkins,  John  B.,  commander  of  the 
Cabot,  216,  217. 

Hopkins,  Rufus,  serves  on  committee 
on  construction  of  a navy,  219. 

Hopkins,  Rev.  Samuel,  135,  137,  138 ; 
efforts  to  secure  the  abolition  of 
slavery,  171-173,  282 ; letters  of,  261. 

Hopkins,  Stephen,  early  life  of,  161, 
162 ; chancellor  of  Rhode  Island 
College,  165;  efforts  to  secure  the 
abolition  of  slavery,  170 ; official 
positions  held  by,  175-177,  200 ; 
pamphlet  by,  201,  202  ; leads  oppo- 
sition to  the  Stamp  Act,  203  ; atti- 
tude in  the  Gaspee  affair,  208 ; dele- 
gate to  the  Continental  Congress, 
209, 212, 222;  member  of  the  Marine 
Committee,  213 ; President  of  the 
New  England  Convention,  222 ; 
Athenaeum  established  by,  334; 
death  of,  257. 

Hopkins,  Thomas,  161. 

Hopkins,  William,  161. 


INDEX 


391 


Hopkins-Ward  controversy,  the,  177, 
178. 

Horsmanden,  Daniel,  commissioner  on 
the  Gaspee  affair,  207. 

Howard,  Martin,  Jr.,  delegate  to  the 
Albany  Congress,  176  ; answers  Hop- 
kins’s pamphlet,  202,  209;  house  pil- 
laged, 203,  210. 

Howe,  Admiral  Lord,  engages  D’Es- 
taing,  231. 

Howell,  David,  243 ; advocates  state 
rights,  244-249 ; course  of,  in  Tre- 
vett  vs.  Weeden , 82,  83,  257. 

Howland,  John,  225 ; efforts  of,  to  se- 
cure free  schools,  279. 

Hull,  John,  97. 

Hunter,  Dr.  William,  135. 

Hutchinson,  Anne,  13,  28-30;  becomes 
Anabaptist,  41 ; death  of,  41,  61. 

Hutchinson,  William,  30  ; chief  magis- 
trate of  Newport,  31. 

Indians  of  Rhode  Island,  the,  7,  52. 

Irish  in  Rhode  Island,  the,  332. 

James,  Thomas,  19. 

Jamestown,  Address  of  the  inhabitants 
of,  to  George  III,  223. 

Jenckes,  John,  162. 

Jenckes,  Governor  Joseph,  report  of, 
109;  vetoes  issue  of  paper  money, 
70, 71, 96,  111,  188 ; removes  to  New- 
port, 177. 

John  Carter  Brown  Library,  334. 

John  Jay,  the  ship,  270, 271. 

Johnson,  Augustus,  house  of,  pillaged, 
202,  203  ; claims  of,  210. 

Johnson,  Samuel,  134. 

Jones,  John  Paul,  214. 

Jones,  Governor  William,  276 ; ob- 
tains indorsement  of  the  Hartford 
Convention,  288. 

Kay,  Nathaniel,  71,  96. 

Kidd,  William,  90. 

King  George’s  War,  96-105. 

King  Philip’s  War,  51-54. 

King,  Samuel,  135,  136. 

King,  Governor  Samuel  W.,  letter  to, 
296  ; reelection  of,  298  ; proclaims 
martial  law,  302,  305. 

King’s  Province  created,  49  ; becomes 
Kingstown,  50 ; Huguenots  in,  146- 
148  ; large  estates  of,  149,  151 ; di- 
vision of,  188. 

Kingstown,  50 ; population  of  (in 
1708),  108. 

King  William’s  War,  66,  85,  89,  95. 

Know-Nothings,  the,  319. 

Knox,  Henry,  describes  Esek  Hop- 
kins, 218. 


Lafayette,  the  Marquis  de,  sent  to 
Newport,  228,  229,  231,  232 ; influ- 
ence in  aid  of  America,  237 ; visits 
Rhode  Island  in  1824,  285. 

Laurens,  Col.  John,  228. 

Lauzun,  Due  de,  238. 

Lawton,  Polly,  238. 

Leif,  visit  of,  to  Narragansett  Bay, 

6. 

Lexington,  the  battle  of,  211. 

Liberty,  the  revenue  sloop,  204. 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  speech  of,  315. 

Lindsay,  Capt.  David,  of  the  Sander- 
son, letters  of,  117. 

Lippitt,  Christopher,  316. 

Little  Compton,  surrendered  to  Rhode 
Island,  46. 

Local  government  in  Rhode  Island, 
180,  186-188,  193,  194. 

Lonsdale  Cotton  Company,  280. 

Lopez,  Aaron,  127  ; denied  naturaliza- 
tion, 180-182. 

Louisburg,  capture  of,  67,  98-101. 
Luther  vs.  Borden , the  case  of,  305, 
306. 

MacSparran,  Rev.  James,  151-155, 
172. 

Madison,  James,  245-247, 252. 

Mahan,  Capt.  Alfred  T.,  341. 

Malbone,  Edward  G.,  miniatures  by, 
266. 

Malbone,  Godfrey,  103, 119;  estate  of, 

121. 

Malbone,  John,  119. 

Mann,  Horace,  334. 

Manning,  James,  163 ; president  of 
Rhode  Island  College,  165 ; Congres- 
sional delegate,  251. 

Marchant,  Henry,  counsel  in  Trevett 
vs.  Weeden,  79 ; delegate  to  the 
Continental  Congress,  222 ; advo- 
cates use  of  fire-ships,  233,  234; 
Federal  leader,  255. 

Masham,  Sir  William,  of  Otes,  16. 

Massachusetts  Bay,  connection  of, 
with  Roger  Williams,  15-18  ; rela- 
tions of,  with  Rhode  Island,  26-34; 
with  the  Narragansett  Indians,  27, 
53;  claims  eastern  Rhode  Island, 
45,  46 ; paper  money  in,  68. 

Massachusetts,  relations  of  Rhode 
Island  with  the  state  of,  252. 

Massasoit,  7, 17,  18,  52. 

Maverick,  Samuel,  49. 

Mayes,  William,  86,  87,  92. 

Mexican  War,  the,  314. 

Miantonomi,  7,  18,  52 ; sells  Shawo- 
met  to  Gorton,  24-27  ; sells  Aquid- 
neck,  29 ; his  death,  27. 

Middletown,  222. 


392 


INDEX 


Miller,  Nathan,  speech  of,  255. 

Misquamicutt  purchase,  the,  47 ; be- 
comes Westerly,  146;  part  played 
in  settling  Narragansett,  148. 

Moffat,  Dr.  Thomas,  135 ; house  pil- 
laged, 203  ; claims  for  damages,  210. 

Mohegan  Indians,  the,  7,  26,  27. 

Montagu,  Admiral  John,  205. 

Mooshassuc  River,  township  on  the, 
18,  19,  21,  23. 

Moravians  in  Newport,  the,  138. 

Morris,  Robert,  financial  measures 
of,  242,  244,  245. 

Moses  Brown  School,  the,  334. 

Mount  Hope,  6 ; the  refuge  of  King 
Philip,  53. 

Mumford,  Paul,  judge  in  the  case  of 
Trevett  vs.  Weeden , 182. 

Munday,  Richard,  135,  136. 

Munday,  Robert,  89. 

Namquit  (Gaspee)  Point,  205. 

Narragansett  Bay,  geography  of,  3-7  ; 
characteristics  of  the  region  of,  9; 
Indians  of,  7 ; British  fleet  in,  217, 
218 ; opening  of  the  east  passage  of, 
233-235. 

Narragansett  Country,  settlement  of 
the,  146-157  ; slavery  in  the,  155, 
156  ; fraudulent  voting  in  the,  325. 

Narragansett  Indians,  7,  18,  26  ; terri- 
tory of  the,  47  ; war  of  the,  with  the 
New  England  colonies,  53. 

Narragansett  Patent,  the,  34. 

Narragansett,  the  town  of,  corrupt  po- 
litics in,  326,  and  note. 

Nassau  Bay,  7. 

Navigation  Acts,  56-58 ; effects  of. 
198. 

Navy,  the  American,  213-220. 

New  England  Confederation,  the,  26, 
35,  42. 

New  England,  Convention  of  the 
States  of,  222,  235. 

Newport,  4,  13  ; settlement  of,  31 ; 
government  of,  31,  32  ; patent  for 
incorporation  with  Providence  and 
Portsmouth,  34,  35  ; deputies  from, 
45,  187 ; growth  of,  60 ; privateers 
of,  95,  96,  101-105 ; pirates  of,  84- 
90  ; commerce  of,  107-110,  112-118; 
population  in  1708,  108  ; Blave  trade 
at,  114-117,  261,  264  ; society  of, 
119-123,  238-240;  slavery  in,  123- 
125 ; Jews  in,  126-128, 180-184  ; Dean 
Berkeley  in,  129,  130;  schools  in, 
131,  172  ; newspapers  in,  132  ; sects 
in,  132,  133,  138;  Redwood  Library, 
134-136,  139;  age  of  preeminence, 
129-145 ; political  rival  of  Provi- 
dence, 177,  178  ; riots  at,  202 ; loy- 


alists at,  209,  223,  259;  British  at, 
222-237,  258;  retreat  of  the  Ameri- 
can army  from,  231,  232  ; the  French 
at,  238-240;  tonnage  of  (in  1810), 
264;  resort  for  Southerners,  265; 
representation  of,  288 ; the  Irish  in, 
332;  ceases  to  be  a capital  city,  333; 
a social  resort,  336-340. 

Newport  Mercury,  the,  132,  252. 

New  Providence,  descent  of  the  Amer- 
ican navy  upon,  214. 

New  Shoreham,  55 ; corrupt  politics 
in,  326.  See  Block  Island. 

Nightingale,  Joseph,  serves  on  com- 
mittee for  construction  of  a navy, 
219. 

Nightingale,  Samuel,  162. 

Ninigret,,  the  sachem,  48. 

Nipmuc  Indians,  the,  52. 

North  Kingstown,  purchase  of,  48;  as- 
sistant given  to,  188 ; corrupt  poli- 
tics in,  326. 

North  Providence,  suffrage  in,  288; 
population  of  (in  1840),  291 ; cor- 
rupt politics  in,  326;  Canadian 
French  in,  332. 

North  Smithfield,  corrupt  politics  in, 
326 ; Canadian  French  in,  832. 

Nyantic  Indians,  7 ; lands  sold  by, 

Old  Stone  Mill,  the,  at  Newport,  6, 
340. 

Oliver,  Justice  Peter,  commissioner 
on  the  Gaspee  affair,  207,  211. 

Olney,  Polly,  the  love-affairs  of,  166- 
170. 

Olney,  Richard,  334. 

Olney,  Stephen,  heads  detachment  at 
Yorktown,  240. 

Olney,  Thomas,  19, 159. 

Ormsbee,  Elijah,  steamboat  invented 
by,  314. 

Osgood,  Herbert  L.  (quoted),  185. 

Paine,  Capt.  Thomas,  84,  85;  an  asso- 
ciate of  Kidd,  90. 

Paine,  Thomas,  247. 

Paper  money,  issues  of,  67-83. 

Partridge,  Richard,  colonial  agent  for 
Rhode  Island,  110,  111;  letter  of, 
128;  death  of,  200. 

Patent  of  1644,  the,  33,  44,  49. 

Pawcatuck  River,  4,  8,  49. 

Pawtucket,  mill  of  Almy  & Brown  at, 
267 ; local  industries  of,  314  ; the 
Irish  in,  332. 

Pawtuxet,  23-25,  50,  205. 

“ Pawtuxet  Purchase,”  the,  20. 

Pawtuxet  River,  4,  8;  township  on 
the,  19,  20, 23-25. 


INDEX 


393 


Payne,  Abraham,  efforts  of,  for  exten- 
sion of  suffrage,  321. 

Pembroke  College,  Cambridge,  Roger 
Williams  at,  14. 

Penn,  William,  colonial  agent  for 
Rhode  Island,  92. 

People's  Constitution,  the,  293-297. 

People’s  Convention,  the,  293,  294. 

Pequod  Indians,  the,  7,  27  ; destruc- 
tion of,  28. 

Percy,  Hugh,  Earl,  commands  the 
British  forces  at  Newport,  223. 

Perry,  Commodore  Oliver  Hazard, 
276,  277. 

Peters,  Rev.  Hugh,  34,  39. 

Pettiquamscutt  Company,  the,  47, 148, 
149. 

Phips,  Sir  William,  65. 

Pierce,  Dutee  J.,  293  ; speaker,  297 ; 
arrest  of,  300. 

Pigot  galley,  capture  of  the,  233-235. 

Pigot,  Sir  Robert,  commands  the  Brit-  i 
ish  forces  at  Newport,  227. 

Piracy  in  Rhode  Island,  87-93. 

Pokanoket  Indians,  the,  7,  52. 

Pollock,  Myer,  127. 

Port  Royal,  expeditions  against,  67. 

Portsmouth,  13;  Gorton  at,  22,  46; 
founded,  29 ; government  of,  31 ; pa- 
tent for  incorporation  with  Provi- 
dence and  Newport,  34, 35  ; conven- 
tion of  1647  at,  36-38:  deputies  from, 
45,  187  ; growth  of,  60. 

Potter,  Capt.  Simeon,  of  the  Prince 
Charles,  102,  192,  262. 

Prescott,  Gen.  Richard,  commands  the 
British  at  Newport,  223 ; capture  of, 
224-226. 

President  Washington,  the  ship,  269. 

Privateering  in  Rhode  Island,  66,  84- 
86,  91,  94-106.  — 

Providence,  4,  13 ; settlement  of,  18 ; j 
government  of,  20 ; Gorton  at,  22,  ; 
26  ; patent  for  incorporation  of,  34,  [ 
35 ; deputies  from,  45,  187 ; burned  1 
by  Indians,  53  ; growth  of,  60;  pri-  ; 
vateers  of,  105, 160,  219,  220  ; popu- 
lation of  (iu  1708),  108  ; churches 
of,  132;  commerce  of,  160,267-273; 
education  in,  162 ; college  removed 
to,  166;  population  of  (in  1750),! 
175  : revolutionary  measures  taken 
by,  210 ; attitude  of,  toward  the  Fed- 
eral Constitution,  254,  255 ; tonnage  ; 
of  (in  1810),  264  ; manufactures  in, 
278, 279,  333;  representation  of,  286- 
288  ; suffrage  in.  289,  291-298,  301  ; ' 
population  of  (in  1840),  291  ; Dorr’s  j 
reception  at,  300,  304, 307, 310;  local  ! 
industries  of,  314  ; libraries  of,  334 ; j 
coast-trade  of,  335. 


Providence  Athenaeum,  the,  334. 

Providence  Gazette,  the,  163,  246. 

Providence  Plantations,  charter  for 
the,  33-35;  government  of,  36;  laws 
of,  37,  38;  first  president  of,  38; 
fraudulent  voting  in,  323-325. 

Providence  Society  for  Promoting  the 
Abolition  of  Slavery,  282. 

Prudence  Island,  3. 

Putnham,  the  sachem,  24,  25,  45. 

Quakers  in  Rhode  Island,  the,  42,  43, 
54, 132, 133, 138, 150,  164  ; efforts  of, 
to  secure  the  abolition  of  slavery, 
171,  172  ; opposition  to  the  Revolu- 
tion, 209. 

Queen  Anne’s  War,  69;  privateering 
in,  95,  96. 

Randolph,  Edward,  sent  to  New  Eng- 
land, 57,  58  ; visits  Rhode  Island,  91. 

Redwood,  Abraham,  71,  119,  135. 

Redwood  Library,  the,  134-136,  139. 

Refuge,  Bay  of,  6. 

Rhode  Island,  geography  of,  3,  4,  7 ; 
discovery  of,  4-6 ; industries  of,  8 ; 
paper  money  in,  67-83;  land 
“banks”  of,  68,69;  privateers  of, 
84-86,  94-96,  10i-106,  218,277;  pi- 
rates of,  87-93  ; commerce  of,  107- 
110,  112-118,  264-273,  842;  slavery 
in,  112-118,  123-125,  155,  156,  170- 
175,  260-264 ; Jews  in,  126-128,  136, 
180-184  ; schools  in,  131,  279  ; news- 
papers of,  132  ; churches  of,  132  ; 
suffrage  in,  180-187,  285,  298,  310, 
319-323 ; dominance  of  the  legisla- 
ture in, 187-193  : courts  of,  189-192; 
causes  of  colonial  discontent,  198- 
204  ; smuggling  in,  200,  202 ; the 
Revolution  in,  211-237  ; proposition 
to  create  an  American  Navy  comes 
from,  213  ; the  theatre  of  war,  216- 
237  ; accepts  the  Articles  of  Con- 
federation, 241  ; refuses  to  accept 
the  5%  impost,  245 ; indorses  David 
Howell,  247  ; acknowledges  taxing 
power  of  Congress,  249  ; attitude  of, 
toward  the  Federal  Constitution, 
249-256  ; unrepresented  at  Conven- 
tion of  1787,  251;  Convention  for 
ratification  of  the  Federal  Constitu- 
tion in,  255,  256  ; railroads  in,  265, 
266  ; manufactures  in,  267,  277-281, 
313,  314,  342 ; suffers  in  the  war  of 
1812,275,276;  taxation  in,  286;  Dorr 
rebellion,  285-307  ; constitution  of 
1842,  308-313 ; attitude  of,  toward 
southern  slavery,  314,  315  ; in  the 
civil  war,  316-318  ; Know-Nothings 
in,  319;  corrupt  politics  in,  323-331 ; 


394 


INDEX 


separatism  in,  337,  328,  333,  342; 
political  reform  in,  328-331 ; towns 
of,  how  represented,  328,  329;  for- 
eign immigration,  331-333;  towns 
and  counties,  list  of,  345 ; chief 
magistrates,  list  of,  345. 

Rhode  Island,  the  battle  of,  231. 

Rhode  Island  Citizens’  Union,  331, 
note. 

Rhode  Island  College,  163-166.  See 
Brown  University. 

Rhode  Island  Gazette,  the,  132. 

Rhode  Island  Historical  Society,  I 
282. 

Rhode  Island,  the  island  of,  3,  5,  43, 
44. 

Rivera,  Abraham  Rodriguez,  127. 

Robin,  Abb6,  238. 

Robinson,  Hannah,  154. 

Rochambeau,  Comte  de,  sent  to  Amer- 
ica, 237  ; at  Newport,  238-240. 

Rogers,  Col.  Robert,  104. 

Rusmeyer,  Albertus  Ludolphus,  138. 

Russell,  Joseph,  serves  on  committee 
for  construction  of  a navy,  219. 

Sacononoco,  24,  25,  45. 

Sadleir,  Mrs.  Anne,  an  account  of 
Roger  Williams  by,  14. 

St.  Juan  Baptist,  Bay  of,  6. 

Sanford,  Governor  Peleg,  report  of, 
108,  109,  123. 

Sassacus,  7. 

Scituate,  town  of,  created,  160;  cor- 
rupt politics  in,  326 ; Canadian 
French  in,  332. 

Seekonk  River,  the,  4,  8. 

Seekonk,  the  town  of,  17,  18,  35. 

Sessions,  Darius,  162. 

Shaler,  Professor  N.  S.,  prediction  of, 

12. 

Shawomet,  the  Gorton  settlement  at, 
24-27 ; reoccupation  of,  50.  See 
Warwick. 

Sherwood,  Joseph,  colonial  agent  for 
Rhode  Island,  200,  201. 

Shirley,  Governor  William,  of  Massa- 
chusetts, 98-101. 

Simons,  Peter,  154. 

Slater,  Samuel,  letter  of,  to  Moses 
Brown,  267 ; career  of,  277-279. 

Slave  trade,  the,  in  Rhode  Island, 
112-118,  260-264. 

Sloop  Bay,  7. 

Smibert,  John,  135,  136. 

Smithfield,  town  of,  created,  160 ; 
population  of  (in  1840),  291 ; cor- 
rupt politics  in,  326 ; Canadian 
French  in,  332. 

Smith,  Richard,  trading  post  of,  at 
Wickford,  47. 


Smythe,  Frederick,  commissioner  on 
the  Gaspee  affair,  207. 

South  Kingston  (or  -town),  purchase 
of,  47  ; negroes  in,  156 ; assistant 
given  to,  188 ; the  Irish  in,  332  ; 
Rhode  Island  tradition  sustained  in, 
341. 

Southwick,  Solomon,  135. 

Spencer,  Gen.  Joseph,  appointed  to 
the  command  in  New  England,  223  ; 
resigns,  227. 

Sprague,  William,  280,  281,  316. 

Stamp  Act,  the,  199,  202. 

Stanton,  Col.  Joseph,  224. 

Star  Chamber,  the  Court  of,  13. 

Stiles,  Rev.  Ezra,  135,  137-141,  155  ; 
drafts  charter  for  Rhode  Island  Col- 
lege, 163;  efforts  for  the  negroes, 
173  ; on  the  Gaspee  affair,  208,  209  ; 
on  the  battle  of  Lexington,  211 ; on 
Providence  privateers,  220;  on  the 
French  at  Newport,  238,  239;  ac- 
count of  British  evacuation  of  New- 
port, 258. 

Stuart,  Gilbert,  135,  136,  340. 

Stubbs,  John,  55. 

Suffrage  in  Rhode  Island,  the,  ISO- 
187. 

Sugar  Act,  the,  110,  111,  198,  215; 
renewal  of,  199 ; protest  against, 
202 ; enforcement  of,  203. 

Sullivan,  Gen.  John,  appointed  to  the 
command  in  New  England,  227  ; let- 
ter of  Gen.  Greene  to,  228 ; ma- 
noeuvres and  defeat  at  Newport, 
230-232. 

Superior  Court  of  Judicature,  the,  191, 
192. 

Talbot,  Major  Silas,  captures  the  Pigot 
galley,  233-235  ; sent  to  Long  Island 
Sound,  236;  captain  in  the  navy, 
274. 

Tammany  Hall,  support  given  Dorr 
by,  299,  306. 

Tartar,  the  colony  sloop,  97-101,  105. 

Taylor  vs.  Place , case  of,  312. 

Tew,  Thomas,  87,  88. 

Throckmorton,  John,  19. 

Thurlow,  Edward,  Attorney-General 
for  the  Crown,  207. 

Tilden,  Samuel  J.,  sympathy  of,  for 
Dorr,  306. 

Tillinghast,  Daniel,  serves  on  com- 
mittee for  construction  of  a navy, 
219. 

Tillinghast,  Pardon,  lot  granted  to, 
160. 

Tillinghast,  Thomas,  judge  in  the  case 
Trevett  vs.  Weeden , 82,  83. 

Tiverton,  surrendered  to  Rhode  Is- 


INDEX 


395 


land,  46,  193 ; retreat  of  the  Ameri- 
can army  to,  232. 

Touro,  Isaac,  135-137. 

Townsend,  Solomon,  120. 

Townsend,  Vice-admiral,  99. 

Trevett  vs.  Weeden,  case  of,  78-63, 
193. 

Trials,  the  Court  of,  189-191. 

Tucker,  Rev.  Mark,  sermon  by,  302. 

Turpin,  William,  plea  for  schools  by, 
131. 

Tyler,  President  John,  letter  of,  to 
Governor  King,  296  ; appeal  for  aid 
to,  298. 

Uncas,  7. 

Underhill,  Capt.  John,  17. 

United  States  Naval  Training  School, 
341. 

United  States  Naval  War  College,  341. 

United  States  Torpedo  Station,  341. 

Updike,  Daniel,  134,  162  ; library  of, 
154. 

Usher,  Rev.  John,  172, 192. 

Vane,  Sir  Henry,  28,  33,  39-41. 

Varnum,  James  M..  counsel  in  case  of 
Trevett  vs.  Weeden , 79,  80,  165 ; 
brigade  of,  228 ; delegate  to  Conti- 
nental Congress.  242 ; upholds  power 
of  Congress,  243;  advocates  accept- 
ance of  the  Constitution,  252. 

Vernon,  Samuel,  120. 

Vernon,  William,  140. 

Verrazano,  Jean,  3,  6;  letter  of,  to 
Francis  I,  5 ; account  of  the  Indians 
by,  7. 

Vineland,  6. 

Wager,  Sir  Charles,  97. 

Wallace,  Capt.  James,  2f6. 

Wampanoag  Indians,  the,  7, 17. 

Wamsutta,  the  death  of,  52. 

Wanton,  Edward,  95. 

Wanton,  Governor  Gideon,  98,  120. 

Wanton,  John,  95,  96,  119. 

Wanton,  Governor  Joseph,  120,  124 ; 
connection  of,  with  the  Gaspee, 
204-207  : suspended  from  office,  212. 

Wanton,  Governor  William,  95,  119, 
124,  134. 

Ward,  Governor  Richard,  114,  117, 
177  ; defense  of  paper  money  by,  72. 

Ward,  Samuel,  representative  of  New- 
port, 177;  action  as  governor,  203; 


delegate  to  the  Continental  Con- 
gress, 209,-212;  death  of,  221. 

: Warren,  surrendered  to  Rhode  Island, 

: 46  ; slave  trade  at,  115  ; mentioned, 

t 193  ; ship-building  and  commerce  of, 
264,  274;  suffrage  in,  288  ; Canadian 
J French  in,  332. 

Warwick,  13,  24;  deputies  from,  45, 
50,  187 ; burned  by  Indians,  53 ; 

! growth  of,  60,  291 ; Canadian 
French  in,  332.  See  Shawomet. 

Warwick,  Robert,  Earl  of,  34. 

Washington,  Gen.  George,  orders  of, 
; respecting  Rhode  Island,  222,  227, 
228  ; visits  Newport,  239,  240. 

I Waterman,  Richard,  19. 

1 Wayland,  Dr.  Francis,  333;  sermon 
by,  302. 

Webster,  Daniel,  argument  of,  in 
f Luther  vs.  Borden,  305,  306. 

Welde,  Rev.  Thomas,  34. 

Westcott,  Stukeley,  19. 

, Westerly,  purchase  of,  47 ; Seventh 
i Day  Baptists  in,  132  ; name  changed 
; to,  146 ; news  of  British  received 
from,  222. 

West  Greenwich,  9;  corrupt  politics 
in,  326;  Canadian  French  in,  332. 

Weston,  Francis,  19. 

Weybosset  Neck,  160. 

Wheaton,  Henry,  334. 

I Wheelwright,  John,  28,  29. 

| Whipple,  Abraham,  120  ; takes  part 
in  the  destruction  of  the  Gaspee, 
206  ; reply  of,  to  Capt.  Wallace,  277. 

Wickford,  47,  152. 

I Wilkinson,  David,  steamboat  invented 
by,  314. 

I Williams,  Alice,  13. 

Williams,  James,  13, 

! Williams,  Mary,  wife  of  Roger,  16. 

I Williams,  Roger,  3 ; early  life  of,  13- 
17  ; age  of,  in  Rhode  Island,  13—61 ; 
founds  Providence,  18,  19;  influ- 
ence with  the  Indians,  27  , 53 ; the 
I patent  of  1644  and,  33 ; religious 
| views  of,  42  : disputes  with  George 
I Fox,  55 ; death  of,  61 ; relations 
with  the  Jews,  126. 

Wilson,  Rev.  John,  28. 

Winthrop,  Governor  John,  21,  24. 

; Winthrop,  John.  Jr.,  48. 

Wool  man.  John,  171. 

Woonasquatucket  River,  the,  4,  8. 

I Woonsocket,  Canadian  French  in,  332. 


(3Tbe  Iftifcer'si&e  ^reajf 

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